


The Ballad of Sana and Yousef

by Rumaan



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: Drama, F/M, Fluff, Humour, Romance, collection of ficlets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2018-11-16 12:32:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 34,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11253249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rumaan/pseuds/Rumaan
Summary: A collection of ficlets and tumblr prompts all based around Sana/Yousef.





	1. Dolls and Tears

**Author's Note:**

> I was craving some bb!Yousana and wrote this ficlet set a decade before the show.

Sana tried to hold her sniffles back as she crept back into home as quietly as possible. Her mum had left her to make her own way upstairs as they’d bumped into a neighbour downstairs and they were now talking about a wedding next week, which she was happy about because it meant her mum hadn't noticed how subdued she was.

She could hear Elias and his friends playing video games loudly in the living room and felt the moisture well up in her eyes once more.

“I will not cry! I will not cry!” She whispered fiercely to herself.

When Astrid and Janne had invited her to come and play with them this afternoon, Sana had been thrilled. She’d been desperate to play with the two girls who lived down the street for ages now. She always smiled widely at them every time she saw them outside keen to show how nice she was. She thought her friendliness had paid off when they had invited her over to play. She was finally going to have friends like Elias did. Girls who came over and ate tagine and chebakia with her the way Elias’ friends did with him. 

But apparently nothing was that simple. She had gone over in a smart new dress with her hair lovingly braided by her mum and clutching the new doll she’d got just last week for Eid. It was her pride and joy. Instead of being blonde and blue eyed with pale white skin, it looked like her. Or well her mum as it came with hijab and abaya. She had loved it from the moment she'd seen it in the mosque, sitting in the window of the Islamic bookshop and had nagged her dad all through Ramadan if she could have it. He’d teased her of course. Pretended that it was too expensive and that she was too old for dolls at seven. But after Eid prayers, her dad had taken her into the shop and bought it for her, kissing her cheeks and telling her how well she’d done to fast several half days that year.

Holding it out proudly, she’d expected Astrid and Janne to chatter excitedly over the doll. How pretty it’s pink hijab was and how it said little Islamic phrases. Instead, they’d laughed and jeered at the doll. Grabbing at it and pulling the hijab off and exclaiming that it did have hair and wasn’t just bald underneath. Then they’d put it with their dolls for a tea party that consisted of all the other dolls taunting her doll for how ugly it was compared to them with it’s dark skin and eyes. How stupid it looked with it’s head covered and proceeded to cut up the hijab. 

Sana had sat there in stunned silence at first, then her anger had bubbled up hotly in her stomach, causing her hands to shake and she’d grabbed her doll back fiercely, glaring at the girls, and then sat cradling it in the corner longing for nothing more than the comfort of her room. She’d stuffed the remnants of the doll’s pink hijab in her little handbag so her mum wouldn’t see. 

Now, she poured the scraps of material out on the table, the tears fell as she tried to sellotape them back together. Her doll’s pretty pink hijab was ruined and she didn’t dare show her parents. 

The noise of someone coming into the kitchen had her quickly shoving the scraps of fabric under a newspaper and her trying to surreptitiously wipe her tears away. If it had been either Adam or Mutta, she would have been successful in hiding what was wrong. Out of all the boys, they were the two with their heads in the clouds. But for her bad luck it was Yousef and nothing escaped his dark eyes. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked, coming over to where she sat slumped at the table.

“Nothing,” she replied a little defiantly. 

Yousef moved the newspaper aside and stared down at the scraps of material and to the doll in Sana’s arms and gave a little nod. “Elias said you were playing with some new friends today. The Larsen twins.”

Looking at him suspiciously, not sure where his comment was going, Sana nodded.

“You took your doll to show them?”

Trying to stifle the wobble of her bottom lip, she nodded again.

“Did they like it?”

Sana gazed up at him mutely, not knowing how to lie convincingly when she could still feel the sheen of tears in her eyes and dared not open her mouth in case the sobs that crowded her throat burst out. Under the weight of the understanding expression on his face, she slowly shook her head and then said hesitantly, her voice thick with suppressed tears, “They called her ugly and cut up her hijab. Baba is going to be so angry.”

Yousef pulled out the chair opposite Sana and sat down. “Do you want me to ask my mum if she could make your doll a new one?”

“She could do that?” Sana asked in awe.

He grinned and said, “Yeah, she’s a seamstress.”

“Would she be able to make one in the same pink?”

“How about I take this material and see if she can match it?”

Sana nodded, passed it over the table into Yousef’s hands and smiled shyly up at him. “Thanks, Yousef.”

He ruffled her hair as he got up and went over to the fridge and she didn’t even scowl. Usually, she hated it when Elias’ friends did that to her, snapping at them and causing them to call her ‘tough girl’.

Thinking ahead, she knew she could keep her doll in her room for a bit. Have it sit on her bed without a hijab because the doll was at home and so didn’t need to cover her hair. Her parents would buy that excuse.

Later, when her mum called her to help bring out lemonade and biscuits out to the boys in the garden, she put an extra couple of almond ghoriba onto Yousef’s plate with a grateful smile to the older boy, who grinned and stuffed them in his mouth.

 -------------

The next week, Yousef slid a package into Sana’s hand and she ran into her room where her doll had been sitting on her bed for the past six days. Inside the package was not only a pink hijab in the exact same colour but others in purple and blue and yellow with little matching abayas. Grinning giddily, Sana dressed her doll up in the blue outfit and brought her out into the living room, where the boys are watching cartoons. 

“That’s pretty outfit for your doll,” her mum commented from where she was dusting the bookshelves. “Where did you get that?”

Sana opened her mouth but nothing came out. She hadn’t thought about explaining just how her doll came to have new clothes.

Yousef piped up, “My sister has the same doll and my mum makes clothes for them, khaltu. When I mentioned that Sana got one for Eid, my mum made some up for her, too.”

“I will have to phone Aysel to thank her. You, too, Sana.”

“Yes, Mama,” she said and her smile peeked out when Yousef winked at her.

 


	2. All the Things We Should Have Said

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana and Yousef are trapped together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt: “Looks like we’ll be trapped for a while…”
> 
> Set in Friday of 4.06 cos it's what should have happened!

“Looks like we could be trapped for a while…” Yousef said philosophically once Sana had stopped banging violently on the door, hoping one of her friends would change their mind and let her out.

She sighed, leaned back against the door and closed her eyes. This wasn’t meant to be happening to her. When Noora had invited her around with the other girls, she had debated about whether or not to go. She hadn’t been in the best frame of mind lately. The night out at Syng had destroyed her in more ways than one and being forced to remain in a room with one of those ways wasn’t putting her in the best of places.

Grabbing her phone out her pocket and sliding down the door, Sana angrily tapped out a message to the group chat

**Sana:** LET ME OUT OF HERE NOW!!

**Noora:** Have you and Yousef talked yet?

**Sana** : NOORA!

**Noora:** It’s for your own good. The pair of you need to talk.

**Sana:** Girls – other than Noora – come and let me out.

**Eva:** No

**Chris:** Girl, you know you need to talk.

**Vilde:** Or other things ;)

With a roll of her eyes at how inappropriate Vilde was talking about her and Noora’s boyfriend like that, Sana stuffed her phone back in her pocket and huffed out a sigh.

“They coming to open the door?” Yousef asked.

“No,” she replied, refusing to look at him.

She couldn’t yet. Not after the other Friday. Perhaps she’d been foolish in getting her hopes up. In thinking that anything could happen between them. Yet she had. She’d told Elias to bring him to Syng because she’d hoped they would have the opportunity to talk and maybe, just maybe, something could come out of it. But once again, life had shown her how wrong she was to ever lower her walls. Bad things happened when you were open and vulnerable. People took advantage of it and hurt you.

Anger bubbling hotly in her stomach, she finally turned her eyes towards Yousef. “If you ask Noora then she’d probably let us out.”

Sana wasn’t even sure why Noora had locked them in here in the first place. Maybe after dating William, she wanted the girls to like her boyfriend this time round and had sensed that there was some animosity between Sana and Yousef. Sana wasn’t sure how. It wasn’t like they’d been around each other a lot in front of Noora. Then again, when Noora had shown her interest in him earlier, Sana had been dismissive.

_Because you wanted to keep him to yourself_ , a voice in the back of her mind said.

She couldn’t deny the truth of the words. She had. There was a reason why she’d always maintained a strict boundary between her home and school life and ever since the time in the gym, the two worlds had collided more and more. And look at the consequences; her heart had been trampled on and now she was stuck Noora’s bedroom with Yousef.

Oh God, had they had sex in here?

Cursing her mind for going down that route, Sana looked down at where her hands curled tensely into the fabric of her tunic.

“Why would Noora let us out if I asked?” Yousef asked, confused.

Sana looked at him like he was stupid. “Because you’re dating.”

Blinking rapidly for a brief moment, Yousef said, “I’m sorry, what?!”

“You and Noora – you’re together. I saw you hooking at Syng.”

Comprehension dawned on his face and then gave way to horror. “You saw that?”

“Yeah.”

He sat up straight then, leaning towards her with an almost desperate look on his face. “It’s not what you think. Noora and I – we’re not an item.”

Frowning, she eloquently said, “Huh?!”

“Oh God,” Yousef said, jumping up from where he was sat at the desk and starting to pace around the room. He ran an unsteady hand through his hair. “It’s not what you think. That kiss. It was a mistake. A huge huge mistake.”

“A mistake?” she asked sceptically. In her experience boys didn’t kiss girls like Noora by mistake.

“Yeah,” he said, coming to a standstill right in front of her. He squatted down, his eyes locked intensely on hers. “I don’t like Noora and she has no feelings for me either. I-,” he said before breaking off and taking a gulp of air. “I like you.”

Everything slowed and stopped and silence clouded her ears. She couldn’t think beyond his words, which echoed around her head incomprehensively. She wasn’t sure how long she sat like that, still and quiet. It felt like a hundred years but probably nothing more than a few seconds had passed.

“You like _me_?” she asked, hesitantly. Her voice coming out shakier than she would’ve liked.

“Yeah,” he replied nervously before adding in a rush. “I don’t want you to feel pressured by that. It’s okay if you don’t like me. I would never want you to feel obliged to return my feelings. And if it makes you uncomfortable knowing this then I could stop coming by the house. You know, make Elias come to me for once.”

She couldn’t stop the grin that broke out on her face. “You’d stop coming by the house?” she teased.

“Well, yeah. I wouldn’t want you to feel uncomfortable in your own home.”

“Yousef,” she said with a laugh. “You’ve been part of the furniture in my house since you were eight years old.”

He looked down at his feet for a moment and then back up at her with a sheepish smile. “I wouldn’t want to be there if it made things awkward for you.”

“Good job I like you too then.”

It was his turn to stop and she couldn’t do anything other than grin at him as he stared at her like a rabbit in the headlights. “You do?” he asked in awe.

“Yep. Who else teaches me to peel carrots the correct way?”

“Someone has to. It was tragic how you were mutilating those poor vegetables.”

There was a whoop beyond the door and Eskild’s voice called out, “NOORA! IT WORKED! I TOLD YOU IT WOULD WORK!”

“Eskild!” Noora called back in frustration. “You’re not meant to be listening at the door!”

“And miss out on all the drama? It’s better than those Turkish soap operas Lito got me addicted to.”

Sana rolled her eyes in exasperation this time as they heard the key in the lock turning. “You prepared for smug Eskild?” she asked him.

“Elias has told me stories.”

“Brace yourself,” she warned.

Standing once more, Yousef leaned down and offered her his hand. Placing hers in his, she allowed him to tug her up from the floor and didn’t pull her hand away once she was standing. She could face an army of Eskild, she realised, if she had Yousef at her side.

 


	3. Got Your Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yousef goes with Sana as she confesses to her friends that she's behind the saranors2 account.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt: Hey, I’m with you, okay. Always
> 
> This is set on the Monday of 4.08. Everything regarding Pepsi Max and the hate accounts has gone down as it did in the show, but the only drama between Sana and Yousef is just them admitting they like each other. So there’s no unfriending on Facebook or kissing Noora etc etc.

“Hey, I’m with you, okay. Always.”

Sana’s eyes flew up to Yousef’s, saw the quiet understanding in them, and she finally let out the breath she’d been holding since laying eyes on the girls in the school yard.

“Better?” he asked with a smile.

“Yeah,” she replied before taking her bottom lip in between her teeth and asking, nervously, “I can do this, right?”

“You’re Sana Bakkoush, you can do anything. Well, except peel carrots.”

That got a shaky laugh out of her and she almost startled at the noise. It felt as if it had been years since she’d last laughed. She’d been so angry for so long that it had consumed her; turning her stomach into a roiling mass of nerves and nausea and making her words burn in her throat like acid as she’d swallowed angry words that she’d wanted to spit in the world’s face with a vitriol that would alleviate her battered and hurt feelings. However, she hadn’t done that. She’d internalised her rage and spewed it forth anonymously through a hate account that had backfired spectacularly and hurt her friends in the process.

Now, she was determined to admit what she had done. She couldn’t bear to see Isak shoulder the blame for her actions. He might not care what Sara and her minions thought of him or even Eva, but she did. She had never been a coward who hid behind others and no matter how badly fear twisted up her chest and left her hyperventilating and scared, she had to admit to her friends what she had done. They might not forgive her, which was a very real possibility she had come to terms with, but at least they would know.

There was a fleeting warm touch on her shoulder and she looked back up at Yousef. “It’s going to be okay,” he said soothingly.

“You can’t know that,” she pointed out, rational as always.

“No, I can’t, but even if they refuse to forgive you, you aren’t alone. You have your family, you have Isak, and you have…me.”

She didn’t miss his slight hesitation before adding himself into the equation and it made her heart skip a beat. She still wasn’t sure just how she came to be here with Yousef, they had been dancing around each other weeks now and in her anger at overhearing those Pepsi Max girls talking about her, she had cut all communication with practically everyone even those unconnected to her pain. She had refused to return any of Yousef’s messages or reply to the stupid memes he insisted on sending her, until he’d found her Saturday afternoon, angrily bouncing a basketball at the court in the park, crying tears of rage at how messed up everything was. She had meant to brush him off, dismiss him curtly as she did everyone else around her right now, but instead he’d stolen her ball and in the frustration of trying to win it back from him, she’d spilt all her feelings in a rush of angry words that had left her shaken and dizzy. To his credit, Yousef hadn’t blinked an eye, just let her vent and, when it was all out and she was drawn and exhausted, had led to her the side of the court and helped her make sense of everything.

Which had led her to this moment.

Standing in the school yard nervous and hesitant about approaching her friends. When Yousef had first brought up the idea of coming with her, she’d outright rejected it. She wasn’t weak and she didn’t need someone to hold her hand. But last night, with her doubts preying on her mind and nerves making her jittery, she’d texted him and asked him if he would still come. He’d replied instantly and said he’d meet her outside her house at 8:30am.

“Do you want me to come over with you?” he asked, as she continued to stand staring at her friends as if her feet were made of lead.

“No,” she said. “I need to do this on my own.”

“Okay,” he said with a smile and pointed at the gate of the school. “I’m going to be just over there.”

Yousef went to move off and she reached out and grabbed his arm. “Thanks,” she said. “It helps having you here.”

“I know.”

Sana watched him fondly as he walked over and leaned against the railings, taking his phone out of his pocket. She was grateful that he’d found her two days ago and that he’d come with her today. Just knowing that he was there as emotional support if she needed it gave her the courage she needed to tell her friends just what she had done.

Her phone pinged and she grabbed it out her pocket.

_Yousef 09:13am_

_Stop staring at me and go talk to your friends ;)_

Sticking her tongue out at him, she took a deep breath, flexed her shoulders and straightened her back.

 _You can do this_ , she said to herself as she strode purposefully over to where her friends sat.


	4. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana and Yousef struggle to keep their hands off each other at Elias' wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt: If you keep looking at me like that we won’t make it to a bed - for married!yousana please!

“If you don’t stop looking at my like that then we won’t make it a bed,” Yousef murmured just loud enough for her to hear.

Shaking her head, Sana was finally able to tear her eyes away from her handsome husband. It wasn’t her fault that he looked so good in a suit, but wore them so rarely that every time he did she was completely incapable of keeping her gaze away from him.

Surreptitiously looking around to see if anyone else had noticed just how much she was been staring at Yousef rather than concentrating on her brother’s wedding, she was pleased to note that everyone else was focused on Elias and Malika – as they should be.

It was a beautiful wedding with pretty much the whole of Oslo’s Moroccan community in attendance. It was good to see Elias happy. He’d been through a lot in the last couple of years; struggling to find his role not only in society but also in their family. He was the only one who wasn’t interested in Medicine and who wasn’t particularly academic. It had derailed him for a few years, leading into a spiral of drinking and going nowhere. But that had all changed when he’d gotten a job working with troubled teens, which had led into social work and meeting Malika, a lawyer, and here he was, getting married and happy with himself.

Plus, all the attention being directed towards the bride and groom gave her some leeway to tease her husband.

“It’s not my fault you look so hot.”

“Yeah?” he asked, his fingers reaching out and pinching her playfully on the hip.

She let out a gasp of laughter and squirmed away, sending him a scolding look. He shouldn’t use her weaknesses in public and he knew just how ticklish she was.

“Hey! Where’s my beautiful wife going?” Yousef asked with a pout, snaking his hand around her waist and pulling her back against him. “So, how long do we have to be here?”

Leaning up and pressing a quick kiss on his cheek, she replied, “I’m his sister and you’re his best friend. We can’t sneak out early.”

“Moroccan weddings are sooooo long,” he complained. “Europeans have it figured out. A meal, a couple of hours dancing and then home.”

Sana laughed. “Funny because I distinctly remember when we were discussing our wedding that you were vehemently against us having a European style reception. I think your exact words were “Moroccan or bust.”

“That’s because I got to be speechless about how beautiful you are three times,” he said, bending down and kissing her forehead. “I don’t really care to watch Elias gawp over Malika each time she comes back in a new kaftan.”

“Elias probably said the same thing about you.”

“I believe his words were, ‘Yousef, have some self-control and stop staring at Sana with so much heat. That’s my sister, man.’”

“And you listened of course.”

Yousef smiled cheekily at her. “Nope, I told him that I would look at my wife any way I wanted to.”

She still thrilled at the sound of wife coming out of his mouth eighteen months later. Sometimes it felt like a dream that they actually got married. Sometimes she woke up early in the morning and before she opened her eyes was convinced that she was back in her old room with the blue walls and the Tupac poster and feeling all the pain and heartbreak of thinking that Yousef was dating Noora. But then she would open her eyes and would see him sleeping next to her and her heart would go into overdrive at how lucky she was to have found him.

“And I’ll look at my husband any way I like,” she said giving him a sultry look.

“Hmm…but I can’t be held accountable for my actions if you look at me like that. And I doubt you want to scandalise your brother’s wedding.”

Her cheeks reddened and she bit her lip a little, her eyes dropping to his mouth and she wanted nothing more than to push him up against the wall and kiss him until she couldn’t feel her face anymore.

“Sana!” he said warningly, his voice a tad huskier and his gaze heated.

“There you are!” Jamilla’s bright voice said and they jumped a little way apart like naughty children found doing something they shouldn’t be.

Her heart pounded heavily in her chest as she turned hurriedly away from Yousef and looked towards her eldest sister-in-law with an overly bright smile. It’s stupid to feel guilty – they were married both in the eyes of Allah and accordingly to the Norwegian government, but there was still a tug of anxiety in her stomach at the thought of anyone knowing just how much she desired Yousef and she found herself thinking up of an excuse for why they might be whispering to each other in the corner.

“Jamilla. Does Malika need me? I was just telling Yousef that I might have to leave him in the clutches of my uncles.”

From the amused expression on Jamilla’s face then she wasn’t at all fooled for a moment by Sana’s words. “Nope. You’re both actually needed. Somehow we forgot the jewellery we were gifting Malika and it goes with the red kaftan she’s going to wear next. Can you run home and get it? She’s going to be changing again in about an hour.”

Yousef grabbed her hand eagerly and said enthusiastically, “Sure! We can do that. An hour you say?”

Sana went completely red at how obvious his words were and she shot Jamilla a quick look to see if she’d noticed. Of course her clever sister-in-law had and she was clearly trying her hardest not to laugh in their faces.

As if sensing Sana’s embarrassment, Jamilla leaned forward, kissed her cheek and said, “Remember how Ridwan and I disappeared for a while at your wedding?”

She nodded, remember how irritated Elias had been because Ridwan was meant to bring back the tiara Sana was wearing for her big white dress but had taken ages, delaying her change.

“That’s because your mum deliberately forgot to bring the tiara to give us an excuse to leave for a while.”

“Really?” Sana asked, wide eyed in shock.

“Yep. And I’d say she’s done the same this time,” Jamilla said with a grin before adding to Yousef, “Don’t rush back. There’s no hurry.”

“We won’t!” he replied cheerfully and tugged Sana out of the hall where the reception was taking place.

 


	5. Sweetest Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana and Yousef get some alone time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for skammonth week of fanfiction, day 1: fluff.
> 
> I wanted to write Sana and Yousef's first kiss...or well first make out session!
> 
> FYI: Some couples decide to get Islamically married before moving in/living together. I know several people who have done this, which gives more liberties for spending time alone together. In Arabic this is called kebt kitab.

“Where are the rest of the boys?” Sana asked, coming into the book room where Elias and Yousef were looking at something on Elias’ MacBook.

“They wanted to give you guys some privacy,” Elias said with a roll of his eyes.

“Oh,” she said. “That’s nice of them.”

It was strange to think of any of Elias’ friends having tact or even thinking about how she and Yousef had just held their _katb kitab_ two days ago and therefore Yousef might want to spend the day in his in-laws house without them around.

Sitting down, Sana asked, “So what are you guys doing?” Elias shot her a disbelieving look, causing her to twist her hand in enquiry. “What?”

“I just told you that none of the boys are coming over today. So the only men in the house today are related to you.”

She grinned, still finding it hard to believe that Yousef was actually her husband even if they weren’t going to have their wedding reception or live together until next summer.

“Yeah and?” she said, confused as to why her brother was looking at her as if she was stupid.

“Oh my God,” Elias said dramatically. “I’m so sorry, bro. So sorry you had to marry the dumbest woman in the world!”

Yousef just smiled at him and said, “Stop making this a big deal.”

“Making _what_ a big deal,” Sana asked, losing patience.

“Your _husband_ has come to spend some quality time with you, mum has dragged dad out shopping, I’m ‘supervising’ you both and you’re sitting there with your hijab on,” Elias said, tugging on the end of her scarf and looking exasperated.

“Oh,” Sana said. “ _Oh!_ ”

“Yes, oh! Took you long enough.”

“Give her a break,” Yousef said. “It’s been two days and it’s not as if we’ve had any time alone.”

Which was true. Their _katb kitab_ had become pretty much an unofficial wedding party, with his friends and her friends staying long into the night to celebrate. Then yesterday she’d been studying and he’d been teaching at Turkish school. They both had a free day on Mondays, so they tended to spend time together then.

“Well, I’ll be in my room,” Elias said unsubtly. “I’m working so my door will be closed to make sure it’s nice and quiet and I can concentrate.”

Sana could feel the colour flooding into her cheeks at her brother’s obviousness and she couldn’t look at Yousef even once Elias had left the room.

“You know you don’t have to take off your hijab if you don’t want,” he said. “This period is an adjustment time for us anyway.”

“I do want to but why does my brother have to be so embarrassing?”

Yousef laughed. “It’s the question I’ve been asking ever since we met at Middle School.”

A little shyly, Sana took the pins out of her hijab and unwound it, letting the material slide off her head. She could feel Yousef’s eyes on her and once she’d freed her hair from the hair-bands holding it into a bun, she look at up at him.

“Just when I thought you couldn’t get any more beautiful,” he breathed out, a hand coming out to smooth a strand of her hair back from her forehead and stroking it down to where it lay half way down her back.

“You’re not disappointed?” she asked in a small voice, hating that she was even asking this question.

It was a stupid question, she knew it was a stupid question, she also knew it was stupid to be nervous around him seeing her hair for the first time. However, she couldn’t help some of her anxieties coming out. She knew how much Yousef loved her, but old hurts took time to heal and she still felt second best sometimes; not pretty or smart or good enough.

Cupping her jaw, his fingers sliding into her hair, Yousef tilted her face up towards his.

“I’m never disappointed with you, Sana Bakkoush. I still can’t believe _you_ chose to marry _me._ You could have had anyone you wanted.”

“Well, not _anyone_. Stephen Curry is sadly married, so I thought I should stop pining over the unobtainable and move on.”

Wow,” he said, dropping his hand, nodding his head and smiling. “Okay, wow.”

Laughing, she leaned up and kissed his cheek. “I love you.”

“I know,” he said, pressing his forehead against hers.

Sana’s eyes dropped to his lips and she felt the familiar feel of blood rushing through her veins in anticipation and her heart beating faster. However, this time she didn’t have to pull away and deny herself. She could move closer and press her lips against his if she wanted. The thought had her mouth drying out and she watched as he licked his lips and his pupils dilated a little.

“Can I?” he asked and the question brought back memories of another night over two years ago, when he had asked her the same question with his eyes and she’d shook her head.

However, now, she didn’t have to do that. He was her husband and physical intimacy was allowed. So she nodded and stopped breathing as he closed the small gap between them and brushed his lips softly against hers; once, twice then three times. Each time he lingered longer and her eyes fluttered closed at the sensation of his warm and soft lips moving against hers and sending shivers down her spine.

Then he pulled back and she moved forward, chasing his lips with hers, her eyes opening in protest.

“I was going to ask if that was okay,” he said with a slight smirk. “But I guess I have my answer.”

Sana narrowed her eyes at his smugness, but then her dimples peeped out. “Hmmm...I’m not sure this kissing thing has quite lived up to its reputation,” she teased.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, I think I need to try it again and see if I get why so many people like it.”

Yousef laughed. “I think that can be arranged.”

He bent his head and pressed his mouth against hers once more and she met him more confidently this time, moving her lips fervently against his and her arms winding themselves around his neck to bring him closer. His hand cupped her jaw once more, tilting her head slightly so he could deepen the kiss, his tongue coming out to trace the seam of her lips, which opened eagerly allowing him access.

As his tongue slid into her mouth, hot and heavy, the blood pounded in her ears. It was a heady sensation having Yousef this close. Sana could feel him all around her and goosebumps erupted on her skin as he snaked an arm around her waist and tugged her onto his lap so she straddled his legs and his hands rested warmly on her hips, anchoring her to him. The new angle allowed gave her greater ability to dictate and she pushed her hands into his hair, loving how silky the strands felt against her fingers as she tugged on them slightly to tilt his head back and control their kisses, pressing her tongue into his mouth and revelling at the small moan he let out.

“So, is this living up to your expectations?” he murmured against her lips.

“I think I would give you a solid 5,” she teased, punctuating each word with a kiss.

“Only a 5?” he said with a grin. “You’ll make me bring out the big guns.”

Sana snorted. “The big guns?”

“Yep,” he said and he pulled his lips aways from hers, peppering little soft kisses along her jawline until he reached just below her ear.

She shivered and gasped, arching against him as he sucked kisses on her silky skin causing delicious tingles to shudder down her body as his lips slid down her neck towards her collarbone. One of his hands roamed up from her hips, pushing under her top and resting hotly against her bare back, his thumb rubbing soothing circles on skin that felt tight and too hot as if she was waiting for a release that she didn’t quite understand yet.

“Yousef,” she breathed.

“Yeah?”

“I take it back. You definitely get a 6.”

Sana felt rather than saw his smile. “Only the best for my wife.”

“Wife!” she said, savouring the sound of it as his lips made their way back up her neck.

Bringing his hands up to frame her face, he kissed her nose and said, “Yep. My brilliant and beautiful wife who is so sexy that it’s been a struggle to keep my hands to myself for the past couple of years.”

He kissed her again then, revering her with his lips and she lost herself in the passion that burned so brightly between them. 

\---------

 A light snapping on overheard had Yousef quickly sitting back up as they both squinted in the harsh light. When had it become so dark? And when had they ended up horizontal on the sofa?

“Wow,” Elias said. “I don’t ever want to walk in on that again.”

Sana sat up, feeling so disoriented that she didn’t even have a pithy comeback for her older brother.

“Mama texted. They’ll be home in about ten minutes, so yeah, you might want to go about fixing yourselves up a little,” Elias said with an amused smirk. “Maybe go and do something about your neck, Sana.”

Turning towards Yousef, she saw his wide eyed look of horror as he saw her neck. “Yeah, it might be a good idea to put on a turtleneck,” he said, squeezing her hand, standing and pulling her up from the sofa. With a quick kiss to his cheek, she passed by him and out of the room.

“She’s your wife but I’m not sure my parents want to see her looking quite so dishevelled, _akhi,_ ” Elias said, loud enough for her to hear in the hallway.

Letting out a small embarrassed giggle, Sana fled to her room to assess the damage.

Looking in the mirror, she couldn’t stop staring. She looked as ravished as she felt. Her lips were swollen and a little numb. Her hair was mussed up, her pupils blown a little wide, and as expected, there were a couple of red marks marring her neck that she needed to cover up. However, she couldn’t help but grin at herself. She’d worried that maybe she wouldn’t like kissing - not after seeing too many unappealing make out sessions held in front of her. Yet, here she was having spent at least an hour making out with Yousef on her couch and it had been the best hour of her life. She could still feel the thrill of his kisses sending shockwaves through her body and the taste of him in her mouth. It was everything she had wished for and she couldn’t wait to make out with him again. She laughed a little softly as she realised it was something she got to do for the rest of her life.


	6. Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Actions have big consequences and Yousef will regret his actions for the rest of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is written for day 2 of Skam-month's fanfiction week. The theme of which is angst so I apologise in advance for this. Just know that it hurt me a lot to write and I've cried on Zarifa's shoulder about it for the past week!

Yousef knew this was a bad idea the moment the closed his eyes and fantasised the press of soft lips against his was Sana’s. The unbidden thought startled him into opening his eyes and he cursed mentally at just what was wrong with him. Why the hell was he kissing another girl when all he wanted was Sana Bakkoush?

He was starting to pull back, apologies on his tongue already when, out the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Sana, staring at them with a devastated expression on her face. The reality of what he was doing crashed home and he yanked the rest of the way from Noora, staring uncomprehending at her for a brief second, before turning to where he’d last seen Sana.

She was no longer there and he cursed as his eyes frantically searched the packed karaoke bar for her. He espied her pushing her way out of the door and started after her.

“Sana!” he called. “Sana!”

Once he finally got outside, he spotted her running back towards her home and chased after her.

“Sana!” he yelled, catching up to her and grabbing her arm gently to stop her.

She snatched it out of his grasp but did stop. She dashed a brief hand over her face before turning to look at him.

_Fuck_ , he thought, _were those tears on her face?_

“It’s not what it looked like.”

“Huh? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Her facial expression hardened and he was face to face with Tough Sana, the one who didn’t let anyone see her feelings or how much they had hurt her. And he had hurt her by the looks of the tears she’d missed on her face.

“The kiss with Noora. It’s not what it looks like.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know why you’re coming out here and telling me this. It’s nothing to me who you kiss. We’re not dating so why should I care?”

“But I thought-” he started to say before breaking off and frowning.

“You thought what?” she asked confrontationally.

What exactly had he thought? This time last Friday, he’d thought he had a chance with her. More than a chance and that they were on their way to actually dating. But when he’d gone to contact her the next day, she’d blocked him on Facebook, leaving him really confused. That confusion had led to his stupid actions tonight in not stopping her friend from kissing him because what was the point of holding out for a girl who he had no chance with?

“I thought you might be hurt by my actions because you might like me,” he said quietly. After his monumental fuck up inside, he owed it to her to be honest and just say what he was thinking.

Sana let out a scornful laugh. “You thought I might like you?”

His jaw clenching at the bitterness of her words, he sucked it up and decided to try and clear this up before the hole he’d dug for himself in a minute of madness got any deeper. “After last Friday and the way we were dancing around each other before then, I thought you might yeah. Also, because I like you and I hope you like me, too.”

With a scornful look, she walked a little aggressively towards him and he shouldn’t be attracted to her anger, but he loved everything about Sana, this included, and said, “If I did like you then it wouldn’t be real. It would just be _Shaytan_ trying to lead me into temptation with a non-Muslim boy. My faith is stronger than you, Yousef Acar.”

He reared back as if she had slapped him in the face, the breath pushed out of his lungs at the harshness of her words. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. His throat was thick and he couldn’t push any words out. All he could do was gulp a little, his mind whirling on the idea that she thought he was nothing but temptation from the devil. It hurt more than he had thought possible – a stabbing pain in his chest that lodged there and had him wincing. He had to blink back the moisture that rose in his eyes.

“Are you finished wasting my time with this?” Sana followed up.

With zero ability to actually speak, all he could do was nod his head and watch helplessly as the girl he was pretty sure he was in love with walked away.

\--------

When the call came, he was still dressed, lying on his bed and staring uncomprehendingly up at ceiling. There was a dull ache in his chest that refused to budge and he felt empty as if nothing had any meaning any more. Sana’s words wouldn’t stop spinning around in his mind, even when he’d shake his head to dispel them. All he could see were the tears on her face and the venom in her voice as she lashed out at him.

The sad thing was he knew he deserved it. Who kissed the best friend of the girl they’d been crushing on for years? No one with actual sense. Rubbing his eyes as if he could actually remove the events that happened, he ground his head into his pillow and groaned. How had he managed to fuck this up so badly?

His phone vibrated on his bedside table and his heart sank when he saw who was calling.

Elias.

His best friend wouldn’t be calling in the early hours of the morning without a good reason. Part of him hoped it was because he was drunk and couldn’t go home, but he knew that it wasn’t going to be that.

“Hey,” Yousef said.

_“I’m outside.”_

The voice was flat as if Elias was attempting to control himself and Yousef knew what was coming next. This was one of the reasons why he had hidden his crush on Sana for so long. It was messy and complicated. He was her brother’s best friend, spent far too much time at her house and if it went wrong – which it had – he would have a painful confrontation with Elias to deal with.

Which was happening now.

Once he was outside, he didn’t bother greeting his friend, saw from the clenched jaw and the curled up fists that hung tensely by Elias’ side, that there would be no point.

“What the fuck, Yousef?! What the _fuck_ do you think you’re playing at?”

“It’s not what it looked like.”

“Not what it looked like? My sister is at home, holed up in her room fucking sobbing like her heart is going to break and when I ask who hurt her – who caused her to cry like this – I find out it’s _you_! My best friend. The person I brought into her life and talked up and said was a good person.”

Pain lanced through his chest at Elias’ words and he closed his eyes in agony for a brief moment, the image of Sana crying dancing behind them and making him feel as if there was a gaping hole where his heart used to be.

“It was a mistake. I tried to explain it to her, but she didn’t want to listen.”

Elias shoved him then and spat, “I don’t want to listen either. I told you that if you weren’t serious then you should back the fuck off, but told me you loved her and then you go and do _this_.”

“It was a moment of madness. It didn’t mean anything. I-” he trailed off, knowing how weak the excuses were. Elias was right, it should never have happened and there was nothing he could do to take it back.

“Stay away from us, bro. Stay away from us or I won’t be responsible for my actions,” Elias said, his voice hard and he strode off down the street towards his own home without a backwards look.

Slumping down against the wall of his house, Yousef tilted his head back and let his tears fall. In five stupid minutes, he’d managed to lose his best friend and the girl he loved.


	7. Doctor From Above

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana has never had a patient mistake her for an angel before

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought it was time for some Dr Bakkoush/Patient Acar Yousana. This was written for Day 3 of Skammonth - the theme of which was AU.

Sana usually prides herself on her professionalism. She has a good bedside manner, is sympathetic and patient with her patients and generally has never noticed if they are gorgeous or not.

Until today.

Of course, it doesn’t help that this particular patient – Yousef Acar – is groggily waking up after appendicitis surgery and has grasped hold of her hand as if it’s his lifeline and she cannot help but notice how strong his jawline is, how soft his hair looks, and how deep his brown eyes are, even when they are glazed and slightly unfocused.

“Am I dead?” he asks urgently. “I thought this was meant to be a routine surgery.”

“No, no, you’re not dead,” she soothes wanting nothing more than smooth back the lock of hair that has fallen forward and is obscuring part of his face. His hair sits long at the front, falling into his eyes, and usually she would roll her eyes and think snarkily that he should get a haircut, but somehow it suits him.

“Are you sure?” he asks anxiously. “Is this a test?”

Sana can see the nurses snickering a little out the corner of her eye. She imagines what they are thinking as she has a reputation for being a bit of a hard ass. She has to be. She’s a practising Muslim woman who is training to be a surgeon. It wasn’t easy for her dad and he at least had the right gender if not the right race or religion. It also doesn’t help that a lot of the other junior doctors in the hospital think she was employed because of her dad – despite him working at a different hospital.

“No, it’s not a test. Why would you think that?”

“Because you have to be an angel. You are too beautiful not to be.”

She can definitely hear the two nurses laughing now as if expecting her to snap at the patient – not that she would in any situation. She might be tough but she never takes it out on patients. However, she can’t help but find him endearing with how soft his eyes are and it really doesn’t hurt to have someone so attractive staring up at you in such awe.

“I’m just a junior surgeon,” she says.

He tugs lightly on her white hijab “But how can a human be so ethereal?”

Her dimples come out then and she cannot help the little laugh that escapes her. “It’s hospital policy. I wear a white hijab to match my white coat.”

“You should be an angel,” he says with a pout. “I’m certain it’s wrong that you’re not one.”

With her free hand, she pats his shoulder more than amused at how adorable he is and says, “It’s just your medication confusing you.”

He scowls at her then, suddenly offended and she’s confused. “No!” he objects. “You _are_ beautiful and it’s definitely not my meds talking.”

“Okay,” she replies more than a little charmed by his emphatic declaration.

The doors to the recovery room swings open and Consultant Surgeon, Dr Johansen, comes in. Sana tries to extract her hand from Yousef Acar’s grasp before her consultant notices. But she’s out of luck because he’s clinging on with a tight grip and Dr Johansen’s eyebrows rise when she notices.

“Do you know Mr Acar, Dr Bakkoush? You really should have said if you do. It’s hospital policy to declare any personal relationships before treating a patient.”

“No,” she says.

“Bakkoush?” Yousef Acar says, his head tilting as he tries to focus more keenly on her face. “Do you know an Elias Bakkoush?”

It’s Sana’s turn to frown and look confused. “You know Elias?”

“Yeah, he works with some of my kids.”

Her heart sinks a little at his words. He has kids? Her eyes fly to his left hand and there’s no wedding ring, but he doesn’t have to be married or he might not wear a ring after all some people didn’t. Not that it should have mattered anyway. It isn’t as if she is going to see him outside of this recovery room. He’s a patient not a dating option.

“I’m teacher,” he says to her as if knowing that she might jump to the wrong conclusion. “So they definitely aren’t my _kids_ kids.”

“Good to know,” Dr Johansen says dryly, with a knowing smile which she directs at Sana.

“Apparently, he knows my brother,” Sana says to Dr Johansen. “But you were here when I found out.”

Dr Johansen smiles then, eyes how Yousef Acar is still clinging to her hand, but says nothing else much to Sana’s relief. She’s sure the story of how a patient thought she was an angel is going to go around the hospital soon enough, but she really doesn’t want to have to explain the story to a Consultant Surgeon.

“Well, Mr Acar, everything with the surgery went as planned. Your appendix was easily removed and your vitals are all strong. So once the anaesthetic has worn off, we’ll return you to the ward for overnight observation and then, if all goes well, ready for discharge tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” Yousef Acar says.

“No need to thank me.  Dr Bakkoush here undertook your surgery and did a very good job.”

He smiles blindingly up at her then and she blinks at how radiant it is. “I knew you were an angel.”

“Yes, well, angel or not,” Dr Johansen says with more than a little amusement in her voice. “Dr Bakkoush has rounds to perform now. But she’ll be back tomorrow to oversee your discharge.”

He releases her hand then and she instantly misses the warmth of his touch. “See you tomorrow,” he says contently.

Sana nods, smiles and ignores how her hand still tingles pleasantly from the feel of his skin against hers. With one last look at him, she follows Dr Johansen out of the recovery room.

“Angel, huh?” Dr Johansen says entertained. “High praise indeed.”

“It’s just the meds talking,” she counters.

“Hmm…I’ve seen many different reactions to many different anaesthetics but never such a starry eyed one. Good job your brother knows him. You can probably get his number.”

“Who says I want his number?”

“The blush on your cheeks!”

Putting her hands up to face, Sana mentally curses when she feels how hot her cheeks are. She hates being transparent in the best of circumstances and this really isn’t an ideal scenario. The gossip will follow her for days. However, she can’t help how her heart races when she remembers Yousef Acar’s look of adoration. The desire to see the exact same expression once his anaesthesia has worn off burrows into her chest and she hopes she’s not disappointment tomorrow.

\----------

Anticipation fizzles in her blood as she walks towards the surgery ward the next day. Sana knows she shouldn’t be excited, that she doesn’t even know this guy other than he says dorky things, has a beautiful smile, and eyes she could get lost in. However, this knowledge didn’t stop her from counting down the hours until she saw him again.

“Yo, Sana!”

She turns at the sound of her brother’s voice and looks at him with a puzzled expression. “What are you doing here?”

“Can’t I come and see my little sister slay as a surgeon?”

“You don’t ever come to visit me at the hospital.”

“Okay, so I might not actually be here for you,” Elias confesses.

“You’re not hurt are you? You didn’t have to break up another fight at the youth centre?” she asks, concern instantly kicking in as she remembered a frantic call from one of Elias’ co-workers, begging her to come to the youth centre and stitch her brother up. He’d stopped a fight between two of the boys and been accidentally stabbed in the arm in the process. It had been deep and it had taken all her composure to keep her hands steady as she stitched him up. But he hadn’t wanted to go to the hospital and land the two boys in trouble with the police. He claimed that was the last thing that they needed right now.

“No! Nothing like that. I actually came to pick up a friend. He had an appendectomy.”

“Oh, Yousef Acar,” she says unthinkingly.

“Yeah, Yousef. How do you know Yousef?”

“I performed the surgery. He mentioned he knew you when he heard my surname.”

The curiosity leaves Elias’ face at her mundane explanation and she mentally pats herself on the back for dodging that bullet. He’d never let her live it down if he knew that his friend had mistaken her for an angel.

“I’m actually on my way to see if he’s ready for discharge now,” she says, ignoring the slight pang of disappointment that Elias is going to be there when she sees him again. Not that he would have flirted with her anyway, it had just been the meds talking yesterday. But he definitely won’t in front of her brother.

However, when she opens the door to his room, Yousef Acar concentrates so hard on her that he fails to notice Elias behind her.

“I still don’t believe you’re not an angel,” he says in greeting and she cannot help the colour that floods her cheeks or the shy smile she gives him. “You are far too beautiful to be human.”

“Angel?” Elias says confused and then delighted as the situation dawns on him. “Are you flirting with my sister after she took your appendix out?”

Yousef startles then and looks horrified when he sees Elias standing in the doorway, looking between them both as if he’s had a revelation.

“Er…yeah,” Yousef confesses, running a hand through his hair as he winces with embarrassment.

Elias lets out a bark of laughter and pulls his phone out his pocket. “Wait until I tell dad and Hamid about this! Neither of them have never had a patient mistake _them_ for a celestial being.”

“Don’t you dare!” Sana says threatening.

However, her unrepentant big brother just grins and says, “Oh, but I am!”

“C’mon. That’s just mean! What happened to us sticking together?”

“This is too good not to use.”

“Sorry,” Yousef says once Elias has bounced out the room. “I didn’t see him and that sentence sounded a lot smoother in my head.”

“You owe me, Yousef Acar!” she says. “Not only am I going to the butt of all jokes in the hospital but at home now, too.”

“Can I take you to dinner to make up for it?”

Sana narrows her eyes. “What kind of dinner?”

“One fit for an angel – red lobster.”

She laughs then and says, “Let me at least discharge you before you ask me out.”

Once she’s finished her post surgery checks and has officially discharged him, he takes hold of her hand once more and asks, “So it’s a date?”

“It’s a date,” she agrees.


	8. Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana comes clean to the girls about her crush on Yousef.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an extended scene from Eva's party in 4.08 written for Day 4: Extended Scene of the Skam-month fanfic week.
> 
> Basically I just really wanted Sana telling the girl squad about her crush on Yousef and their reaction! Yes, I'm still salty we didn't get that on screen!

Sana watched as Noora got in William’s car and drove away. The two separated lovers hadn’t taken their eyes from each other and when she’d tried to work out what Noora was thinking or if she was mad at her, her friend had been too distracted by William to answer.

Had jealousy caused her to monumentally fuck up even more than she had before? In a daze, she looked round trying to find out where the rest of the girls were. She spotted Eva dancing with Penetrator Chris and decided that it would not be a good time to bug her, but Chris and Vilde were standing off a little to the side, whispering to each other.

Biting her lip and walking over, Sana said, “I think I really fucked up this time.”

“What? Why?” Chris asked with a hesitant expression on her face. Although not on par with Sana this week had been tough on Chris, too. Chris who hated all forms of conflict and strife and hadn’t been able to joke them all into talking again.

No, they had cleared the air on Wednesday night and it had taken several packets of tissues as Sana told them everything that she had overheard at SYNG and why she had reacted the way she had – including explaining the bullying she experienced at Middle School. The girls had piled on top of her then, smothering her in kisses and hugs and apologies for how oblivious they had been to it all.

“I emailed William,” she said quietly, looking down on the floor guiltily.

“What?!” Vilde exclaimed! “Why would you do that?”

Sana couldn’t help but sneak a peek at where Yousef was standing talking to Even and Mikael. Her crush on him still felt vulnerable and raw even though she now knew there was nothing between him and Noora. Admitting that liked she liked him _a lot_ still felt like a massive deal but it was a hurdle she had to overcome. She should have overcome it back in April, really. Her two lives had collided then and she had lost all ability to control either, so she should have come clean, admitted that she liked Yousef, and then none of this mess with Noora would have happened.

“It’s kind of long and complicated story,” she said. “Can we go over there and talk about it?”

The last thing Sana needed right now was someone overhearing her confession. She was not ready for that.

“Sure,” Chris said. “Hang on, I have a better idea. Why don’t we go into my room? That way we can get proper privacy.”

“I’m getting Eva,” Vilde said.

“You don’t have to do that!” Sana protested. “She’s happy with Chris.”

“She can make out with him later. This is more important than a fuckboy and she’d be pissed if we didn’t go and get her. Meet you in Chris’ room.”

It didn’t take Vilde and Eva long to come in. Eva’s lipstick was smeared from where she’d been making out with Penetrator Chris and Sana shot her an apologetic look. “Sorry, I told Vilde to leave you where you were.”

Eva waved a dismissive hand. “It’s Chris. He’ll still be around later. What’s this about?”

“Sana emailed William,” Vilde said.

“What? No she didn’t! Chris told me that Noora emailed him.”

Taking a deep breath, Sana said, “I kind of emailed William from Noora’s account.”

The other three girls stopped and stared at her in shock for a split second. Plucking Chris’ duvet cover between her fingers to try and stem the anxiety that was rising in her, Sana looked nervously between them, her eyes getting stuck on Eva’s face. Eva who had such strong feeling about meddling in other’s lives especially online.

“Okay,” Eva said, shaking her a head a little and coming to sit next to Sana, putting her hand over Sana’s to stop her fidgeting. “Why did you do that?”

“I was jealous,” she said, her heart pounding and her stomach rolling with nausea. She hoped she didn’t throw up now. Not when she was so close to breaking her fast.

“Jealous?” Chris asked, confused. “Of what?”

“I thought she and Yousef were dating,” she said in a rush, unable to look any of the girls in the face. Her skin felt hot and clammy and she put a hand over her mouth, sure she was going to vomit. Focusing on slowing her breathing, she worked her way over the desperate need to heave and used some of the anxiety reducing techniques she had found online.

“Hey,” Eva said calmly, rubbing her back. “It’s okay. No one is angry okay?”

She smiled appreciatively at her friend for recognising just how much anxiety she had in that moment and helping her overcome it.

“Yousef? Your brother’s friend Yousef?” Vilde asked.

“Yeah. I like him. Have done for about a year and we getting closer and he acted like he was interested in me and I thought something might happen, but then he and Noora hooked up at SYNG. And then they met up a week or so later. I heard my brother’s friends talking about seeing them and saying they were dating. And I was so angry and upset that I hacked Noora’s email and emailed William. I couldn’t bear the thought of her dating Yousef.”

Silence greeted her words and then Eva said, matter-of-factly, “I’m beginning to get why you and Isak get on so well.”

“Huh?!” Sana asked, scrunching up her face at the lack reaction.

“Oh my God,” Vilde squealed. “You _like_ a boy! I can’t believe you kept this from us? You’ve liked him for so long and you didn’t tell us!”

Confusing by the aspects of this story her friends were concentrating on, Sana said, “Hallo! I just told you that I hacked Noora’s email to bring William back and all you can focus on is that I did it because I like a guy I thought she was dating?”

“Meh – who understands William and Noora?” Eva said with a shrug. “At least hacking her email has got them to talk.”

“And you actually liking a guy is so much more exciting!” Vilde said, her voice excited and high pitched. “You never show any interest in any boys ever!”

“Guess we know why now,” Chris said, hi fiving Sana. “You have good taste. He’s hot!”

“They will have the cutest babies,” Vilde said gushing.

“Er…slow down!” Sana said but her mind got stuck on reading his texts to Noora and how he called her his soulmate.

“What? What’s that look for?” Chris asked.

“He said he thinks we’re soulmates in a text to Noora,” she said, blushing at how ridiculous it sounded said aloud.

“That’s it! I’m dead!” Vilde said, falling back dramatically onto Chris’ bed. “Could he get any cuter?! Yossi!!”

“That should be so cheesy but somehow it’s not,” Eva said grinning.

The girls were so excited that all the nerves that had twisted her stomach up into tight knots dissipated. She felt the anticipation of what might happen with Yousef fizzing through her blood and for the first times in weeks, hope that something might actually happen with him bloomed in her chest.

“Okay,” Vilde said, leaning up on her elbow. “You have what? 2 hours until you can break fast. Tell us _everything_. I want first meetings, first time you realised you liked him, every interaction ever broken down. You’ve been holding out on us and now we need all the gossip.”

Grinning, Sana propped Chris’ pillows up against the headboard and leaned against them, stretching her feet out. Vilde lay parallel to her and Eva and Chris sat cross legged at the end of the bed, elbows resting on their knees and all their attention pinned on her.

“You really want to know?” she asked.

“Er…duh!” Chris said.

“Okay, well, it started when-”


	9. Your Eyes in My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana needed a groom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is based off [this Anon](https://smoothyousef.tumblr.com/post/163834026031/ok-but-i-asked-jonas-benyoub-to-sing-youm-wara) to @smoothyousef, I wrote this! - hope you don't mind, Anon!
> 
> This is set in Sana’s third year and none of the Yousef storyline that happened in S4 has happened in this universe.
> 
> Title from the English translation of Youm Wara Youm which I'm showing my age with and automatically assumed would be the Samira Said/Cheb Mami classic - so the title is from there!

Sana stared with horror at the response to her jokey message to Jonas Benyoub.

_“Hey, I’d love to sing Youm Wara Youm at your wedding. Just tell me when and where!”_

At any other time she would be so excited to see such a reply. It would be amazing and awesome to have him come and sing at her wedding

The only problem was that she had no wedding in the works. She was tragically single and now way too embarrassed to tell Jonas Benyoub that she hadn’t thought he’d reply let alone ask her for her wedding details.

Noise from the book room filtered into her room and she bit her lip. Perhaps she could throw a pretend wedding just so he would show up. It could really be a graduation from VG present to her but look like a wedding and then Jonas Benyoub would come and sing her favourite childhood song and be none the wiser.

This was too good an opportunity to lose on a technicality. All she needed was someone to pretend to be her groom and there five boys in her front room who could pretend to marry her for this reason. Well, four. She wasn’t sure Even was the best choice; not when he could never keep his hands off Isak long enough to pretend to be marrying her.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed her laptop back on her bed and stood. She could do this. It wasn’t like it was a lot to ask really. She didn’t want one of her brother’s friends to _really_ marry her - and they’d done plenty of dumb shit for worse rewards than this. She didn’t dwell on the one complication to this plan; that she had the world’s biggest crush on Elias’ best friend, Yousef, and her heart pounded the possibility that _he_ might agree to pretend to marry her. She wasn’t sure if that was what she wanted or whether that would be the worst thing to ever possibly happen.

Deciding that she just needed to go ahead and ask, Sana strode purposefully into the book room, refused to look at anyone and said, “I need one of you to marry me.”

Silence greeted her announcement and she turned her gaze from the books to the boys who were sitting on the couch and the floor.

“What?” she asked as they continued to gaze at her.

“Have you spoken to Mama about this?” Elias asked, bemused. “She might have an opinion about this.”

Sana rolled her eyes. “I don’t _actually_ need one of you to marry me. Just to pretend to marry me.”

“Er…why?” Adam asked.

“I might have asked Jonas Benyoub to sing Youm Wara Youm at my wedding and he agreed and is asking when it is.”

“Just tell him you’re not getting married,” Even said reasonably. “And that you didn’t think he would reply.”

“I can’t do that!” Sana said emphatically.

“Why?” Mikael asked.

“ _Because!_ ”

“So you’re going to throw a fake wedding just so Jonas Benyoub can sing to you?” Elias asked.

“Not any song, Elias, but Youm Wara Youm. It’s my favourite ever song!”

“Well, when you put it like, it sounds totally logical,” her brother said sarcastically.

“I thought it could be my graduation party but we’ll just pretend it’s a wedding for Jonas so I just need someone to be my groom.”

“I’ll do it,” Yousef said quietly.

Sana allowed herself to look at him for the first time since she’d entered the room. She generally tried to keep her eyes away from him not wanting to give her crush away, but now she allowed herself to drink him in. There was sincerity in his gaze and a small smile on his lips and she couldn’t help but smile back, allowing her dimples to peep out.

“Don’t encourage her,” Elias said, elbowing him in his side. “Just tell Jonas Benyoub to come and sing at your graduation.”

“No, that’s so humiliating!”

“More humiliating than having a pretend wedding?”

“Yes!” she said, her stubborn streak coming out the more that Elias queried her thinking.

“You can’t make my friends pretend to marry you,” Elias said, just as adamant.

“I’m not making anyone do anything,” she said huffily. “Yousef offered.”

“Yeah, Yousef offered!” Mikael said, waggling his eyebrows. Even cracked up next to him whilst Yousef sent them both a death glare.

“We all know Yousef is happy about this,” Mutta added. “So it’s not as if it’s a hardship.”

Confused, Sana looked at Yousef. He had an embarrassed expression on his face and his cheeks had reddened slightly. She couldn’t help but wonder at his reaction and how he’d been the only one nit to query her need but just agree to it. Hope bloomed in her chest that maybe her crush wasn’t as unrequited as she thought it was. His eyes met hers, a warmth in their depths that caused her heart to go into overdrive. Their gazes lingered on each other and it was only when Even and Mikael fake coughed obnoxiously loudly that their eyes skittered away from each other.

With an unimpressed expression on his face, Elias said smugly, “Good luck in persuading Mama and Baba to agree to this.”

Unfortunately, Elias proved to be right. Her parents sat and listened to her proposition with a remarkably straight face but both refused to even consider turning her graduation party into a fake wedding for one song.

Sana put the disappointment that she felt at her parents not agreeing down to not being able to have Jonas Benyoub come and sing for her, but really she knew it was because she didn’t get to pretend to marry Yousef now. As soon as he had offered that had become the highlight of whole plan.

However, the sting of having to come clean to Jonas was hugely offset by the Facebook friend request from Yousef and the message of commiseration he sent as she pressed to accept him. She could cope with having to admit that she wasn’t actually getting married if she got to talk to Yousef.


	10. Unwise Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eva's filter goes when she's drunk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was born after a conversation with @imanmeskinis about the balloon squad hearing from drunken!Eva about some of the shit Sana has gone through. Set after the party in 4.01

“It was so great partying with you,” Eva slurred a little. “Sana never told us that her brother and his friends were so cool.”

Sana rolled her eyes as Elias beamed at Eva’s words. This whole night was totally going to go to his head. First the girls had been bowled over by the dumb balloon stunt and then they had spent all night chatting to her brother and his friends clearly finding them funny and entertaining, and, now, on the ride back to their homes they were charmed by how the boys were dropping them to their doors and not leaving them to get home by themselves.

Elias flung an arm around Sana and said, “My little sister never likes to give us any credit.”

“That’s because I _know_ you’re a bunch of losers.”

Her brother and his friends oohed at her words and she couldn’t help her pleased smirk when she caught Yousef’s eyes and he winked at her with a grin on his face.

“Those are fighting words, Mini Bakkoush,” Adam said playfully.

She raised her eyebrow at that. “Mini Bakkoush? Who are you calling mini, Malik?”

“You! You’re the youngest and the smallest hence Mini Bakkoush.”

“We’re also losers!” Eva crowed. Being drunk had put her thirty seconds behind everyone else. “Remember, Sana, that’s what you said when we hung out that first Friday together last year?”

Sana grimaced a little. It was tough remembering the hard shell she had when she first started Nissen. Her experiences at Urra had meant that she had hidden behind a wall of snark and brutal bluntness and she had refused to soften herself when she’d first met the girls, determined to control her encounters with them so she was never at a disadvantage. She still struggled now when it came to opening up. Tonight had been hard for her; seeing her friends and her brother in the same place interacting where she was the connecting factor, which meant she’d come up in conversation way more than she was comfortable with.

“Really?” Mutta said, surprised. “Sana called herself a loser?”

“Yes!” Eva exclaimed, swaying a little despite holding tightly onto the tram pole. “She called us all losers and said she was the biggest loser of us all. Why was it again, Sana?”

“Who knows,” she said, trying to play the conversation off. She could feel her shoulders tightening at the direction this was going. She’d never let on to Elias just how much the bullying at Urra had affected her and she didn’t need her words about how her faith made her the biggest loser being said now.

“That’s it!” Eva said, undeterred by Sana’s lack of enthusiasm. “You said being a Muslim girl in a faithless country made you the biggest loser of us all.”

There was a little tension among the boys now. She could see how Elias’ jaw was clenched and she closed her eyes momentarily hoping that Eva would stop with memories now. It wasn’t her friend’s fault, she didn’t know just how sensitive this whole topic was. How Sana feeling alienated and vulnerable stemmed from bullying in Middle School. Or how her brother and his friends knew all too well what it was like to be different in society; to be at the bottom of the pile because of a darker skin tone and a Muslim name. Her eyes skittered over her brother and landed on Yousef, who was frowning a little and looking at her with a concerned expression on his face.

Oblivious Eva continued, “Oh, but that’s not the best of Sana! Remember when we went on the Penetator’s bus, Sana?”

 _Shit shit shit!_ was all she could think. _Please don’t let this be what I think it is!_

Of course it was.

“Remember when that guy – Karl or something asked if you wanted to go to the back of the bus and sit on his face? And you responded ‘why? Is your nose bigger than your dick?’”

Eva laughed loudly, completely unaware that she was the only one. Sana wanted the floor to open up and swallow her. It wasn’t Eva’s fault. She didn’t have any siblings and so couldn’t know that gross sexual propositions wasn’t really something you shared with a brother and his friends.

Pulling in a deep breath, Sana looked around at the boys. Mikael was looking away, biting his lip with his shoulders shaking as if he knew Elias would punch him if he laughed. Adam was scuffing his shoe on the floor and acting as if he hadn’t heard any of it whilst Mutta looked embarrassed. Elias however looked like he was going to bust. His whole body was taunt and she could see his jaw working away.

Flicking Adam on the arm, she gestured for him to get Eva into conversation, which he did admirably. Pulling her a little distance away under the pretext of pointing something out to her.

“Elias, _habibi_ , it’s fine! It was last year and I dealt with it,” she said, putting a hand out on his arm.

He didn’t say anything, just stared ahead with angry eyes. Needing support, she looked over his head to where Yousef stood.  Yousef was great at getting Elias to chill out whenever his temper got the better of him. However, to her surprise, Yousef’s eyes were blazing and his hands were curled into fists.

Sana gave him a quizzical look and he shook his head a little as if dispelling something. His hands uncurled and he sent her a reassuring smile.

“Elias, don’t worry about it,” he said soothingly.

“Don’t worry about it?” Elias hissed furiously before putting his arm around Sana. “Some dick thinks it’s okay to talk to my sister like that. And what’s this about being the biggest loser, Sana? This country is fucking lucky to have you. To have us. Look at how hard Mama and Baba have worked for this country only to have their kids feel like that?”

Yousef nodded his head in agreement and said, “It’s shit. We all know it’s fucking shitty; that people judge based on skin colour or if a girl wears hijab or not. However, getting angry on a tram isn’t going to change anything. There’s a time and a place.”

Suddenly sighing, Elias’ shoulders slumped and he ran a weary hand over his head. “I know. I know.” Then he huffed out a sound of amusement. “Did you really respond that way to the guy?”

She shrugged and said, “Yeah. He was a gross sexist pig and he deserved it.”

“My sister; the badass,” Elias said, kissing the top of her head and giving her a proud smile. “Don’t ever take anyone’s shit, okay?”

Rolling her eyes, she said, “Duh. Of course not. That’s not the Bakkoush way.”

Mentally relieved that crisis had been adverted, Sana looked towards Yousef again, a grateful smile on her face.

“Thank you,” she mouthed.

“Anything for you, girl,” he mouthed back.


	11. The Battle of the TV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana and Elias fight for control of the TV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more Bakkoush sibling squabbling than Yousana but Yousana is there! I just love the Bakkoush siblings a lot!
> 
> This is set just after Yousef gets back from Turkey

“I can’t believe this is even a discussion. Of course I would be Cosima!” Isak said emphatically.

Sana gave him an unimpressed look and said, “You’ve yet to prove why.”

“Well-” he started to say before tailing off. His eyebrows furrowed together as he very obviously tried to think of a reason before his face cleared, he smiled smugly at Sana and stated, “We’re both gay.”

She snorted. “That’s as persuasive an argument as me saying we’re both women.”

“But you’re clearly Rachel! The snarky, sneaky little snake who is unpredictable with her moves but has a conscience under her ruthlessness.”

“If we’re talking about snakes then that applies to you, too. Let’s not pretend that you haven’t done some underhand shit at times either.”

Their argument is brought to a halt by the Bakkoush front door opening and a wall of noise spilling into the hallway. Sana groaned as she realised that meant her brother was home. Usually, that wasn’t a problem because Yousef was usually in tow but she had counted on them being out all afternoon so she and Isak could finally get round to finishing the final season of Orphan Black.

“Salam Sis,” Elias said, coming into the book room. “I need the TV now.”

Ignoring her brother, she sought out Yousef and gave him a wide smile. He grinned back at her. Only after that had happened did she turn her attention back to Elias and say dismissively, “Sorry, you have to wait.”

“You need to finish watching whatever that is on your laptop in the kitchen or your room or something.”

Narrowing her eyes at her brother and his demands, Sana’s eyebrows rose and she said, “I don’t think so. Isak and I were here first and we’re in the middle of watching something.”

“If you’re in the middle of watching something then why is it paused?” Elias asked.

“Because we stopped it to have an argument about something.”

“Argument about what?” Even asked, pushing his way forward and sitting down on the sofa next to Isak and giving him a quick kiss.

Isak rolled his eyes. “Sana is convinced that she’d be Cosima and I would be Rachel when it’s so clearly the other way around.”

Even laughed. “Yeah, you’re both Rachel.”

Both Sana and Isak shot Even a glare that had him sinking back into the sofa with his hands raised in the air. “Okay, okay. I’m not going to get involved.”

“Good,” Sana stated before saying to Elias, “You can’t have the TV now.”

“But we need to watch the Game of Thrones season finale,” Elias whined. “Yousef hasn’t watched the last couple of episodes with us because he’s been in Turkey.”

“Watch it in an hour or so. Isak and I will be finished then.”

“But Even has to go work soon. We won’t have time and we want to watch it all together like we used to.”

“I don’t care,” Sana said hard-heartedly. “Besides, Game of Thrones is dumb. It’s badly written and the characters change personality too much.”

There was no way she giving the TV up to Elias now. He was always camped out in the book room and hogging the big TV with his friends. For once she had it and she wasn’t planning to give it up any time soon. Especially as she’d only just started feeling comfortable enough to invite her friends around to the house.

Used to living with two older brothers who wouldn’t hesitate to use their physical strength against her, she grabbed the remote control a split second before Elias lunged for it and slipped it into the back of hijab.

“That’s not fair. You can’t hide the remote in your hijab, Sana.”

“If you want it you have to come and get it,” she said gloatingly knowing that Elias couldn’t and wouldn’t dare try it in case he dislodged her hijab in front of all his friends and Isak.

Clenching his jaw together, he eyed her angrily as if testing her resolve before he sighed heavily, pouted a little and turned towards Yousef. “Can’t you do something about this?”

“Do what?” Yousef asked, confused.

“Make your girlfriend give us the TV.”

“Yeah, no. I’m not going to do that.”

“But I thought you wanted to watch Game of Thrones.”

Yousef shrugged. “I’m not fussed and Sana was here first.”

Elias glared at him. “You’re so whipped. It’s kind of embarrassing, bro.”

“That’s such a pathetic attempt at reverse psychology,” Sana remarked enjoying just how much she was winning this latest sibling battle between them.

“I’m telling Mama,” Elias said sulkily, stomping into the kitchen as if he was a little boy and not twenty years old.

Realising that the Bakkoush bust up was over for now, the boys started to arrange themselves around the book room. Yousef squeezed himself onto the sofa, putting his arm around Sana and kissing the top of her hijab. His casual affection still caused her heart to pound heavily in her chest.

He had only been back from Turkey for a week and actually being his girlfriend face to face was so different to spending the summer facetiming him. She was still getting used to the way he would sling his arm around her shoulders and tug her into his side. However, she revelled in how warm he felt pressed against her and how she was engulfed in the smell of his cologne that would linger for a couple of hours on her own clothes and keep him with her for that little longer.

“What are you watching?” Mutta asked.

“Orphan Black.”

“Ooh that’s so good,” Mikael said. “I swear it was the first finale in years that didn’t disappoint me.”

“Ssh! No spoilers!” Sana snapped. We still have one episode until we get there.”

“What’s it about?” Yousef asked curiously.

“It’s a sci-fi show based on clones.”

“Oh,” he said, his interest increasing.

“But you can’t watch it from here! We’re nearly at the end of the fifth and final season, you won’t understand anything.”

“I want to watch it,” Adam piped up. “It’s on Netflix right? Can’t we start watching it from the beginning?”

Sana looked at Isak and said, “What do you think?”

He shrugged, looked around at the boys who were all giving them both puppy eyes now, clearly intrigued and wanting to watch it. “Won’t that piss off Elias?”

“It will!” Sana said gleefully before liberating the remote from her hijab and pulling up the pilot episode. “That settles it!”

When Elias came back into the room ten minutes later, he looked at them all sitting engrossed at the TV, groaned loudly and then whined, “Really?”

“Shut up!” Mutta said. “This is good.”


	12. Sweetest Love Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana and Yousef scandalise Vilde

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A stupid amount of time ago @meandheraresoulmates requested a follow up fic to [Sweetest Love](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11253249/chapters/26251683) where Sana and Yousef are making out at a party and scandalise Vilde. I FINALLY got round to writing it (sorry it’s taken so long!). Also, I know a lot of you were looking for a more mature follow up to Sweetest Love which I couldn’t quite work into this but I do plan on writing something more mature featuring married Yousana so look out for that!
> 
> A follow up to chapter 5 of this collection

Once Sana started kissing Yousef then she couldn't stop. Now she knew just how soft and inviting his lips were, how drugging his kisses were and how they turned her limbs into treacle, there was no way she could actually resist the temptation to kiss him.

Which was why that Friday an hour into the party being held at the Kollektiv she refused to keep her hands off her very handsome husband any longer. She didn’t care that they were at a party with all their friends, she wanted – no needed – to kiss him right now.

Snagging his arm as he came out of the kitchen, with glass of water in his hand and laughing at something Even was saying to him, Sana grabbed the water off him, placed it on a convenient nearby table, took advantage of his shock at her waylaying him to push him up against the wall. Running her hands up his chest and over his shoulders, she snagged them into his hair, tugged him down and moulded her mouth fervently to his.

The sensation of his mouth against hers had her losing all sense of where she was. Running her tongue along the seam of his lips, she dipped in when he opened, enjoying the sensation of his tongue moving against hers. She could never grow tired of this, of how warm and addicting his kisses were and how hot and shivery they made her feel.

Moving one of his hands that had been resting on her hip, Yousef snaked his arm around her waist, bringing her even closer to him so they were pressed up so closely she could feel the buckle of his belt pressing into her stomach. His other hand tangled into the fabric of her scarf as he took control of their kisses, moving his lips passionately against hers as his tongue slid into her mouth and her knees threatened to give out.

“Oh!”

The exclamation broke through the cloud of lust that had taken hold of Sana’s brain and she pulled back a little so a millimetre of space existed between their mouths. Opening her eyes, she saw that Yousef had done the same.

“It’s Vilde,” he murmured. Their lips were so close to each other that they brushed together with his words.

With a small groan, Sana extracted herself out of Yousef’s arms and turned to her friend.

“Everything okay, Vilde?”

“Er…yeah,” her friend said, shock clearly written on her face. “Even said you were out here although he didn’t say you were busy and I wanted to ask you…” Vilde tailed off obviously distracted by them before she blurted out, “I’m sorry, but are you meant to be kissing Yousef? Isn’t that like against your religion or something?”

With an eyebrow raised in amusement, Sana said, “He’s my husband. Pretty sure I’m allowed to kiss my husband.”

“Oh, yeah, of course,” Vilde said with a little laugh that still showed how confused she was. “I just wasn’t sure, you know, and this is so public.”

“You were practically eating Karolina earlier on the sofa.”

“You’re right…I just wasn’t sure if you should be doing that here,” Vilde said hesitantly almost as if she realised that she was digging herself into a hole.

“Was there anything you needed?” Sana asked, taking pity on her sometimes ignorant friend but mainly on herself.

“No, it’s okay. It can wait until Monday.”

“Okay. Talk later,” Sana said not waiting for Vilde to disappear back into the living room, but spinning back around in Yousef’s arms and pressing her lips back against his.

However, the urgency between them had dissipated with Vilde’s interruption. Plus she missed Yousef being able to slide his hand inside her shirt or thread his fingers into her hair. Kissing him at a party was nowhere near as much fun as kissing him in private.

“Has she gone?” Sana asked against his mouth.

“Yeah, but I think we scandalised her,” Yousef said with a laugh.

Sana rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe she was so shocked by us kissing. She’s been giving me intimate details of her sex life ever since she lost her virginity.”

“Ah yes, but a piece of cloth on your head means that you aren’t meant to get sexual ever. Even with your husband.”

“Ugh,” Sana said in a frustrated tone.

Sadly, Yousef was right. Innocently making out with her husband should not have been anything shocking but it was purely because she was a hijabi. Vilde had made so much progress in gaining a filter and not just spewing out random ignorant comments regarding Sana and her religion, but every once in a while she slipped and this had been one of those moments.

Yousef’s phone pinged and Sana grabbed it out his back pocket for him.

“Thanks,” he said before adding, “It’s probably time for us to quit kissing anyway. Elias is downstairs.”

Ever since that first day in her house when Elias had walked in on them on the sofa, her brother had been adamant that no displays of PDA were to happen around him. She couldn’t fault him because she didn’t want to see him making out either, so they both managed to keep the affection to an acceptable minimum whenever Elias was around – although it wasn’t always easy and sometimes they slipped, much to her brother’s disgust.

“I take it you’re letting him in?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“I’m going to go and find Even then and punch him for telling Vilde where to find us.”

Yousef laughed and said, “Make sure it’s extra hard from me!”

Even could be found leaning against the wall in the front room, chatting to Isak and Eskild. Sana punched Even as she came up to rest alongside him.

“Ouch!” Even said. “What was that for?!”

“For sending Vilde out into the hallway to find me. I thought she was going to have an aneurism.”

Even grinned smugly. “Serves you right for grabbing Yousef like that and making me witness you ravish him.”

“Consider it payback for all the years I’ve had to watch you and Isak slobber all over each other.”

“Slobber?” Even said outraged. “We don’t slobber. We are so pretty when we kiss.”

“So pretty, Sana!” Isak chimed in.

Sana laughed then and had to concede the point. She still remembered Chris and Kasper’s make out sessions, which had not been pretty and she refused to think about Vilde and Magnus and the gross shit they’d got up to in front of everyone.

“Aww you and Mr Bakkoush were interrupted,” Eskild said. “You can always use my room if you want.”

“It’s okay,” Sana said, managing to suppress the shudder at the thought of the state of Eskild’s sheets. She might find her husband irresistible but she still had basic hygiene standards.

“Wait until you get home and scar Elias?” Even asked.

“It doesn’t take much to scar Elias and it’s always fun.”

Her brother walked into the room then with a small disgruntled look on his face. She couldn’t figure why he was irritated until she looked at Yousef just behind him and grinned at the smudge of lipstick he’d missed at the corner of his mouth. The boys were going to tease him about that for days.


	13. Carrot Cake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana is determined to make Yousef a cake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So tumblr tells me that it's Yousef's birthday today and I saw the posts literally an hour ago so I just about managed to write this in time! It's based on this post from @slytherino.

“Oh you’re finally here,” Sana says and relief washes through her body at the sight of Jamilla on her doorstep.

“You called me in a panic half an hour ago. I think I’ve done pretty well to make it here so soon. It’s not even 9am,” Jamilla says with raised eyebrows. “Moustafa told me to tell you that he doesn’t say hi by the way.”

“I don’t know why he’s complaining. It’s not like I called him and I’m super grateful. Look, I even made you coffee,” Sana says as they walk into the kitchen.

Jamilla snorts at the sight of the place. “Did a bomb go off in here?”

Scowling, Sana says, “No! I was trying to make that carrot cake you sent me the recipe for but it didn’t come out right.”

There’s a note of panic in her voice that she can’t quite suppress. She should be able to cook. It’s pretty much chemistry - combining ingredients and making something else out of them. Unfortunately, whilst Sana is completely at home in a lab, she’s a disaster in the kitchen.

“You want to make a cake for Yousef’s birthday,” Jamilla states knowingly.

“Yes!” She all but wails. “I was going to buy one from a bakery but Vilde started on about how romantic it is to give something you made with your own two hands and, well, 14 hours later and everything’s a mess.”

“When did you start baking?”

“After Fajr. The boys are throwing him a birthday lunch here and I thought it would be nice surprise.”

Jamilla smiles fondly at her and says, “Okay, now breathe. I’m going to help you make the best cake this boy has ever eaten.”

Gratitude for how amazing her sister in law was, Sana lets out a massive sigh of relief. Jamilla is renowned for her baking skills and her carrot cake is to die for. She knows that if she can make one even half as good then Yousef will be really impressed. And she wants to impress him and make him feel special on his birthday. After all, he makes her feel special every day.

———–

“Happy birthday!” Elias half shouts, half sings as he flings open the door.

With his ears ringing from just how loud that was, Yousef grins at his best friend and tries to look as excited as Elias clearly is. He doesn’t have the heart to tell Elias that he’s much more excited about dinner tomorrow night with Sana than he is about anything planned for his actual birthday. His parents had offered to postpone their traditional birthday dinner so he could go out with Sana tonight instead, but she had refused to mess up the Acar plans, which had earned her several brownie points from his family.

It’s been just over a month since Yousef returned from Turkey and since then everything else has paled in comparison to the time he’s got to spend with Sana. He still can’t quite believe that she’s agreed to go out with him.

But he knows she’s not here now because she has school and he would never ask her to skip a day so she can spend it with him instead. So he had agreed to lunch with the boys and he isn’t going to spend that time looking around to see if she’s somehow at home - or wishing that she is. It’s not fair on his friends.

However, it’s not the pile of presents or the mountains of food that catch his eye when Yousef walks into the dining room. It’s the massive three-tiered carrot cake sitting in the centre of the table.

Dragging his eyes from it, Yousef looks up and sees his girlfriend standing there, a shy smile on her face.

“Happy birthday!” she says to him as he walks over.

“You made me a cake?”

“Well duh,” she says with an eye-roll.

“It looks amazing. Thank you,” he says, kissing her cheek.

She still blushes every time he does that and he never gets fed up of the sight and knowing that he affects her just as much as she affects him.

“It’s nothing,” she replies.

“Yeah, you can try and play it off now, sis, but you started baking just after Fajr,” Elias says and adds for Yousef, “She even dragged Jamilla up here early this morning to help.”

Warmth spreads through his chest at the effort she’s made to bake him something even if she’s shooting daggers at her brother, clearly embarrassed. He puts his arm around her waist and tucks her into his side. “And you made carrot,” he murmurs into her ear.

“Well, I had to prove just how good I am at peeling carrots now.”

Yousef laughs and looks around the room at his friends and his girlfriend all gathered here to celebrate his birthday and feels blessed at how lucky he is to have this many people who love and care for him in his life.

_Alhamdullilah_ , he thinks.


	14. Shampoo Thief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elias knows better than to touch Sana's shampoo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I bought some really nice, expensive shampoo the other week and warned my husband to keep his hands off it! Of course, this then made me want to write Yousana fic based around this scenario because why not! Set not long before S4 so longing glances abound between Sana and Yousef!
> 
> Also for @thickskinandelasticheart because she deserves some fluff after fighting the good fight for Yousana on tumblr!

Sana gritted her teeth as she reached for her shampoo and found that it had been moved. That meant only one thing: Elias had used it despite her warning him that he should never use her shampoo.

It was the nicest shampoo she had ever bought and it cost her a good part of the allowance from her parents. The first time she’d used it her hair had felt so silky and smooth. Plus it also smelt amazing. She’d told Elias that if he ever touched it to use on the centimetre of hair he possessed then she would wait until he was sleeping and shave his eyebrows off. Her brother should know better than to cross her.

Her mood didn’t improve when she found the matching conditioner had also moved. Why would Elias need to use conditioner, too? He always shaved his hair and never grew it out. She wouldn’t mind so much if she hadn’t specifically told Elias not to use it. He didn’t care about quality shampoo and was always happy to buy whatever was on sale because it made zero difference to his closely cut hair. However, that was not the case for Sana. Her hair needed good products used in it or it became dry and frizzy and generally just unmanageable.

Stewing over how inconsiderate her brother was as she dried her hair and got dressed, her temper was simmering nicely when she finally left her room. It wouldn’t take much to set it off.

“Sana?” Elias called when she started to make some coffee. “Would you make some extra coffee for us?”

The innocuous request had her anger bubbling over.

“No!” she snapped, stomping into the book room. “I won’t make you coffee because you did precisely what I asked you _not_ to do!”

“Huh?” Elias asked, clearly confused by her rage. “I haven’t even seen you this morning.”

“And yet you’ve still managed to piss me off!”

“How?”

“I told you not to use my shampoo and conditioner but you still did!” she yelled. “Why would you even need to use my expensive shampoo? There’s plenty of yours left.”

“I haven’t touched your shampoo,” he protested.

“So why was it moved? You best lock you door when you sleep tonight.”

“ _Wallah, okhti,_ I haven’t touched your stupid shampoo.”

“Er…,” came a hesitant voice in the corner of the room. “I think I might have used it. Sorry, Sana.”

Turning away from her brother, Sana spotted Yousef. Somehow she had managed to miss him when barrelling into the room, which was unusual. She was usually aware of whenever he was in the house as her eyes would involuntary seek him out to drink him in. He must have stayed over as Elias’ friends didn’t normally arrive before 10am at least. They were generally pretty considerate like that.

“Oh,” she said, the wind taken out of her sails.

“I didn’t realise it was yours,” Yousef said apologetically.

Her eyes roved over his hair, which was looking even softer and shinier than usual. In fact, it looked so good that her fingers itched with the desire to touch it. She felt her face grow hot as her mind refused to cooperate also and lingered on the image of what Yousef could look like in the shower. As she tried desperately to gain control over her wandering thoughts, all she could think about was water pouring down over his head and chest and washing the suds of her shampoo out of her hair.

“That’s okay,” she said mildly, embarrassed even though they couldn’t read her mind.

As if conspiring against her, Elias said sulkily, “Oh, what? You’re not going to threaten to harm Yousef when he’s sleeping?”

Sure that her cheeks were scarlet, Sana’s rebellious brain was now stuck on what Yousef looked like asleep. These were images that she could have coped with alone in her bedroom, but them flooding her thoughts when he was sitting right in front of her was too much for her to deal with.

“You want coffee then?” she said, thinking of any excuse to flee the room before either her brother or Yousef somehow figured out what she was thinking.

“It’s the least you can do after accusing me of being a thief.”

With a vague smile in both their directions, Sana took refuge in the kitchen and tried desperately hard to stop thinking about Yousef in her shower.

However, when he and Elias came in to join her for breakfast, she couldn’t help but smell the clean cucumber and mint scent of her shampoo lingering on his hair as she passed behind his chair to grab the Kiri cheese from the fridge and brought all the images flooding back again, causing her to choke a little on her food and flee as soon as she could to the sanctuary of her room.

\----------

A couple of days later, Sana got home from school and found a brand new bottle of her shampoo and conditioner waiting outside her bedroom door. Picking them both up, she smiled softly as she realised that Yousef must have gone out and brought her some more. Her chest swelled a little with how thoughtful and sweet the gesture was. She hadn’t expected him to buy her brand new bottles when he’d only used a little bit.

Wanting to say thank you, she headed into the kitchen where the boys were sitting around the table and drinking tea.

“Hey,” she said, her eyes skittering over everyone else and zeroing in on Yousef. She waved the bottles in his direction and added, “Thanks. You didn’t have to buy me replacements.”

He shrugged and said, “I felt bad after using it. Plus, it’s really nice.”

“Is that the magic shampoo?” Mutta asked.

“Let me see,” Mikael said, grabbing it out of her hand, opening the cap and sniffing it. “Yousef hasn’t stopped going on about how amazing it is.”

“I just said it was nice,” Yousef protested.

“And then dragged me into five different shops to find it,” Adam remarked.

“He’s worse than Sana talking about how great it is,” Elias grumbled.

Sana couldn’t help grinning then as Yousef’s cheeks reddened a little, clearly wishing that his friends would shut up. However, when he caught her eyes, he smiled back and her heart skipped a beat.


	15. The Beard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana comes home from a week long conference to find Yousef has grown a beard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @meandheraresoulmates prompted me to write about Yousef growing a beard so here's some fluffy married Yousana featuring Yousef with a beard!
> 
> Many thanks as always to the lovely @fallacyinwonderland who always has time to help me out with Turkish for a ship for a show she's never seen!

Sana pulled her suitcase through the door tiredly. She was exhausted after a week-long surgical conference in Stockholm that had been so full on she’d barely had any time to text Yousef, let alone talk to him.

However, she was home now and she could smell that he’d already started cooking and hear the faint sound of music coming from the kitchen.

Leaning her suitcase up against the wall, toeing her shoes off and rewinding her hijab, she smiled at how comforting it was to be back home.

“Yousefciğim?” Sana called out, walking down the hallway and stopping in the threshold of the kitchen as she saw Yousef stirring something on the cooker and hips swaying to the music on the radio. She never got bored of walking in on him dancing. He was always so carefree when he danced.

Coming up behind him, she wound her arms around his waist and tiptoed up so she could press a kiss onto the back of his neck.

“Hello,” she said.

Taking the pan off the heat, he turned round and said, “You’re home!”

Catching a glimpse of his face for the first time in a week, she leaned back and said, “I was gone for seven days and you started to grow a beard?”

Yousef rubbed his chin self-consciously and shrugged his shoulders a little. “Elias bet me that I couldn’t grow one and I was bored.”

“Bored?”

“I missed you,” he said with an adorable little pout.

“I missed you, too,” she said, smiling softly up at him before leaning up and kissing him.

Five days was a long time to go without kissing her stupidly cute husband and despite meaning to make the kiss short and sweet, passion sparked between them and she clutched at his shirt as he slid his tongue into her mouth and deepened the kiss. His hands threaded into her hair, tilting her head to give them a better angle and she gasped at the tickle of his stubble against cheeks.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, pulling back.

“Your beard is tickly!” Sana exclaimed.

“Oh, do you want me to go and shave it now?”

“No!” she said quickly, causing him to raise an enquiring eyebrow. “I like it.”

And she did. He had always been clean shaven and the roughness of the stubble was a new sensation and she couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like in other places.

A devilish gleam entered his eyes. “Oh, you do, do you?” Reaching out a hand behind him, Yousef turned off the cooker and said, “How do you feel about a late dinner tonight.”

Biting her lip, she gave him a sultry look and said, “We did have a late lunch at the conference and I haven’t had much time to work up an appetite.”

Pulling her in even closer to him, Yousef bent his head and sucked slow, tender kisses onto her neck. She shivered at the bristly feel of his beard that contrasted so well to the soft velvet of his lips.

“Hmm,” he murmured in her ear. “I guess we’ll have to do something about that.”

\-----------

The next day at the hospital, Isak heaved a massive sigh of relief when he saw her. “Oh thank God,” he said. “This past week has been hell.”

“Why?”

“The rest of your surgical team are a bunch of morons, Sana! How could you leave me alone to deal with them?”

“Because I had to go the conference. I wasn’t exactly given a choice.”

Which was true, if Sana had had her way then one of the other surgical juniors would have gone. It had been the longest she and Yousef had been apart since they’d married and she’d missed him too much. However, she couldn’t help but smirk a little as she relived the previous night. At least their reunion had been worth it.

“What’s that on your jaw?” Isak asked, squinting at her face.

Raising a self-conscious hand, she wondered if she had somehow left home with food on her face. Then her fingers met the slightly bumpy skin and colour rushed into her face as she realised just what Isak had noticed.  She had several little marks like it scattered all over her body. Apparently, beard burn was a very real thing.

“It’s nothing,” she said a little too quickly.

“Is it a rash?” Isak asked concerned and leaning forward to see it better. “Do you want me to examine it to see if you need some cream?”

“No!” she exclaimed, embarrassed.

Then a delighted expression came over her friend’s face. “Oh my God! Is that what I think it is?!?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Didn’t Yousef grow a beard whilst you were away? I’m pretty sure Even told me something about a stupid bet he and Elias made about it.”

Sana glared fiercely at him as if daring him to continue with his conversation. The problem with Isak, however, was that he’d known her too long and somewhere along the way she had lost the ability to intimidate him with just a look.

“Ha! Wait until I tell Even.”

“Open your mouth and I will kill you,” she practically growled at him in her discomfort. “I still have those pictures from the hospital Christmas party and I will use them if necessary.”

“You wouldn’t,” he said.

“Try me.”

“Okay, okay, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“I take it you like the beard then,” Isak asked.

“Shut up!”

He laughed before taking pity on her. “Come on, let’s grab a coffee and I’ll update you on the various disasters that befell me because you left me alone.”

They walked in silence for a moment towards the break room where the coffee machine was housed. Sana trying to figure out if the slight mark was too noticeable and she needed to add more concealer.

“Is it really bad?” she caved and asked. “Is everyone going to notice it?”

“No,” Isak said. “It just caught the light weird and I spotted it.”

“I’m going to try and cover it up more,” she said, stopping at the door of the staff bathrooms. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

Smirking but blessedly keeping his mouth shut for once, Isak saluted her and left to get them both a coffee. Walking into the bathroom, Sana peered at the tiny red mark in the mirror and pulled her concealer out of her bag ready to dab more on her skin.

Stupid beard!


	16. The Grand High Witch of Nissen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana accidentally scares Yousef's school kids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm taking [Halloween prompts on tumblr](http://rumaan.tumblr.com/post/165977787386/open-for-halloween-prompts) and a lovely Anon sent me: Accidentally scared a kid and their adult is angry. I was thinking sana might scare one of yousef's kindergarten kids with her costume? i mean he obviously wouldn't be able to be angry with those dimples very long and she would make the kid smile somehow because she's Sanasol

“Sana!” Elias called out as soon as she entered the house. “Are you free tomorrow afternoon?”

Her brother never usually accosted her as soon as she came home so he must need her help with something. Of course, this meant that Sana took her time in toeing her shoes off and hanging her coat up, knowing that being so slow would drive her brother mad, but it served him right for shouting at her as soon as she got through the door.

True to form, Elias was tapping his foot impatiently by the time she made it into the book-room.

“Why?” she asked.

“I need a favour.”

It must be a pretty big favour if he wasn’t whining about how look it had taken her to answer him. However, Elias asking for a favour was a dangerous thing as he had the ability to nag and nag until you just submitted to doing what he wanted out of sheer frustration.

“What favour?” she asked with narrowed eyes.

“I need you to help out a friend. He works in a school and they are holding a Halloween party and he needs people to dress up in costumes and man Halloween stalls.”

“And you want me to dress up and do this?”

“Well…yeah,” he said as if she was stupid.

“What will you give me?”

“My everlasting gratitude…?”

“Yeah, no, you need to drive me home from the party I’m attending later that night.”

“Aww c’mon, _okhti_ , I’m going out myself.”

“Good luck helping your friend out then.”

Elias scowled at her but his shoulders deflated and he capitulated as she knew he would. She went for the kill then. “Oh and you need to also drive my friends home.”

“What!” he objected. “You didn’t say anything about that!”

“Take or leave it, _akhi_.”

“Okay, okay!”

\-----------

Sana hadn’t thought she would actually have fun at the stupid school Halloween party that Elias had dragged her to, but she was. Her costume had worked out perfectly for a school environment and as she was also manning a sweet stall. The girls had all decided to go dressed in costumes from scary children’s books this year and Sana had chosen to be the Grand High Witch from Roald Dahl’s _The Witches_ , complete with clawed hands under her gloves and a wig that sat uneasily over her hijab making clear it was a wig. She’d managed to creep a good few kids out as she casually would draw a clawed finger from a glove and scratch under the ill-fitting wig. There was even a bottle of _Formula 86: Delayed Action Mouse Maker_ sitting prominently on the table next to a platter of cookies.

Feeling smug with her performance, she wasn’t prepared for an angry voice to say behind her, “What are you doing?”

Turning around, Sana was surprised to see a tall, cute guy around Elias’ age glaring at her with his arms folded across his chest. He was dressed as a Disney prince, which she would usually roll her eyes at but it suited him making him look impossibly handsome and as if he’d stepped off the pages of her childhood fantasies.

“Huh?” she asked, eyebrows furrowed as she didn’t understand the question.

“You’re terrifying the kids,” the guy went on to say. “I’ve had several come up to me in tears, telling me they don’t want to be turned into a mouse.”

Biting her lip with guilt, Sana realised that maybe she’d been a little too convincing in her performance. She hadn’t wanted to make kids actually cry. She’d loved _The Witches_ when she was child, liking how dark the ending was and also cackling at how Elias had cried for several nights afterwards, convinced that the Grand High Witch was coming for him and asking if they could go and move to Morocco.

“There are kids crying?” she asked, feeling bad.

“Yes,” he said in a frustrated tone. “This is meant to be fun not mentally scarring.”

“Oh, I didn’t think I was that terrifying. I was going for a little creepy but not to freak the kids out.”

“We’ve just started reading _The Witches_ in class and the Grand Witch is pretty scary.”

Sana grinned then and she couldn’t help but ask the question, “Don’t tell me she gave you nightmares when you were young.”

The hot guy stared for a minute at her dimples then nodded and looked a little sheepish. “I couldn’t sleep for weeks. My mum had to tell me that she was a witch hunter and that I shouldn’t worry about any coming near me because they were all afraid of her.”

Laughing, Sana said, “My parents should have taken lessons from yours. My brother was petrified. Elias kept asking if we could move to Morocco because the Grand High Witch was Norwegian.”

“Oh, are you Elias’ sister?”

“Yeah, Sana,” she said, continuing to smile up at him.

“I’m Yousef. I asked him to bring some friends to help out tonight.”

“Well, he brought me but I’m not sure if I’ve helped or not.”

“The queue from the sweet stall is definitely not long,” he said softening the words with a smile.

Sana looked at how no kids were waiting for any of the baked treats on offer and grimaced a little. Scanning over the gym, she could see several small, terrified faces watching Yousef talk to her as if they feared she would turn their teacher into a mouse.

“I tell you what, how about you defeat me and make all these kids happy again?”

“Defeat you?”

“Yep, you know how in the end of the book, the boy and the grandmother turn the convention of witches all into mice, thereby defeating them. You’re dressed as a Disney prince right?”

“Yeah,” he said with a hint of embarrassment in his tone. “The kids chose my costume. They wanted me to dress up as Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty.”

She gave his kids silent brownie points for not going down the obvious ethnic route and picking out Aladdin as his costume.

“So who better to defeat the evil witch than a Disney prince? Have you got a toy mouse anywhere? I can pretend to disappear when you give me the tonic,” she said, waving her hand in the direction of the fake tonic bottle. “And all that’s left behind is a mouse and you can be the hero the kids so clearly need.”

He gave her an impressed look. “That’s actually a really good plan.”

“I’m not the cleverest Bakkoush for no reason,” she said with a grin.

“Clearly. Okay, let’s do this!”

They executed the plan flawlessly and Sana couldn’t help but grin as she crouched under the table as the kids cheered as Yousef ‘defeated’ the evil witch. In the scrum of kids now flocking to the sweet table, she was able to crawl out and disappear down the corridor towards the deserted classrooms.

Yousef caught up with her five minutes later.

“Happy children now?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “Thanks for figuring out a way to stop them from having nightmares. I was sure there were going to so many complaints from parents tomorrow.”

“I don’t want to be the reason for you getting in trouble,” she said with a slightly flirty look up at him.

He grinned back at her but their conversation was cut off as another member of the school staff poked her head out of the hall and called for him to return.

“I guess I better get back,” he said with a trace of disappointment in his tone.

Sana gave him another smile. “See you around.”

He nodded and headed back into the hall, whilst she went and waited for Elias in the car.

\-----------

Halfway through the Nissen Halloween party, Sana’s phone vibrated and she pulled it out, stopping for a brief second when she saw the Facebook friend request notification. Leaning over her shoulder, Chris said, “Who’s Yousef Acar?”

“A friend of my brother’s and the guy I helped out earlier.”

“He’s cute,” Chris said approvingly as Sana opened up his Facebook page and they scrolled through his photos. “You’re going to accept, right?”

She wouldn’t normally. Not someone who was Elias’ friend, but the mere sight of the notification had butterflies fluttering in her stomach with anticipation. “Yeah, I’m going to accept.”

As soon she accepted, a message came up from him and she settled back on the sofa, phone in front and ready to reply.

“I guess that’s what you’re doing for the rest of the night,” Chris said in a resigned tone.

Sana made a non-committal sound as she tried to figure out a way to make sure Yousef was with Elias when he came to pick her up at the end of the night. She definitely wanted to see him again.


	17. Fadlan's Falafel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yousef takes desperate to a whole new level

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for my lovely Kari, who I forced to watch Skam and, much to my delight, she not only loved Sana the most but loved Yousana, too. She also had to put up with A LOT of Sana-centric propaganda from me so this is my way of apologising but also making her read Yousana fanfic!
> 
> So, especially for Kari, here's matching costumes Yousana featuring her (and my!) Magnus Chase OTP of Samirah x Amir!
> 
> This is set in S3 because we didn't see where the girls went for Halloween (or what iconic costume Sana followed up her S1 Vilde costume with).

Yousef took a deep breath before going to open his mouth. He’d been trying to work out just how to ask this question for the past three days, ever since Elias had invited them to the same Halloween party that Sana was going to be at. It was unusual because the Bakkoush siblings never partied together. He suspected that was more down to Sana than Elias, so he still wasn’t sure just how and why Sana had invited them all this year.

“So, did Sana say there was a theme or anything for the party?” he asked, mentally congratulating himself on how nonchalant he managed to sound. “Is she dressing up as something in particular?”

Apparently, his mouth didn’t get the memo of when to stop and he internally winced as the second part of the question came out.

The laughter that followed let him know just how desperate he had come across. Elias raised an unimpressed eyebrow and said, “Bro, are you really asking me what Sana’s costume is so you can match?”

“No!” he objected quickly. “I was…er…wondering if we needed to dress up as anything specific.”

“Sure Jan,” Mikael said mockingly.

“Although it would be useful to know,” Mutta said and Yousef shot him a grateful smile.

Adam nodded. “Yeah, remember last year when Mikael failed to tell us that it was a zombie apocalypse theme last year and we all turned up as the kids out of Stranger Things.”

“I forgot okay!” Mikal said. “But also zombie theme? That’s so played out.”

Rolling his eyes, Elias said, “No, there’s no theme and we all know Yousef wasn’t asking to avoid us turning up in the wrong costume.”

“Oh yeah. He just wants to match Sana,” Mutta said.

“Why don’t you stop being lame and just ask her out?” Adam commented.

“I don’t…that’s not…why would…” Yousef stuttered out, failing to complete a sentence as Elias stared him down and feeling his cheeks heat up at just how transparent his crush on Sana was these days.

He couldn’t help it. He had been prepared to pine away for her secretly forever, but recently she had begun to return his looks and his hopes that maybe somehow she liked him back had risen. He wasn’t going to be stupid and ignore the slim chance that Sana returned his crush. Therefore, he’d decided that Halloween might be the opportunity to throw them together with matching costumes.

Elias sighed and his whole body slumped as he took in just how pathetic Yousef must have looked in that instant. “Not that I want to encourage this insanity,” he said. “But she’s going as Samirah al-Abbas out of Magnus Chase.”

Yousef wished he knew who that was but at least he now had a reference point for Google.

“Sana would make a badass Valkyrie,” Mikael said.

“You know the character?” Yousef asked eagerly.

“No! Don’t tell him!” Elias interrupted. “At least make him work a little for this.”

“Well, this should be fun,” Adam said with a grin.

\----------

“Who are you supposed to be?” Emine said, eyeing his t-shirt in bemused confusion. “Are you really going out in a falafel t-shirt?”

Yousef looked down the large _Fadlan’s Falafel_ on the t-shirt he’d printed and grimaced slightly. “Yeah.”

“Why?”

“It’s a character out of a book. He works at his parent’s falafel restaurant.”

Emine looked at him as if he was slightly insane, which, to be fair, he might be. “Right,” she said. “So out of all the many many _many_ characters you could dress up in you chose someone who wears a falafel t-shirt. Who are you planning on wearing matching costumes with?”

“What?!” he spluttered out.

“You have to be wearing that because you’re part of matching costume and there’s no way you’d wear it for any of the boys, which means it’s a girl. So who’s the girl?”

“There is no girl,” he said insistently. Why did his older sister have to be so good at putting things together?

“Hmm,” she said, unlocking her phone and tapping away at the screen for a minute or two before a big grin spread across her face. “So, Sana Bakkoush huh?”

Sighing in capitulation at his failed attempt to hide his crush from his sister, he said, “How did you figure that out so easily?”

“Simple. A google search for Fadlan’s Falafel brought up this character Amir Fadlan, which in turn led me to Samirah al-Abbas and who do we know who might be dressing up as a hijabi character this Halloween and who you were also giving heart eyes to at the Mosque the other week? That would be Sana Bakkoush.”

“The boys all knew about the crush too,” he said, resigned to how transparent he was.

“So is she if you go dressed as some minor book character just so you can match her costume.”

He nodded because he had already come to this conclusion. If she was dressed up as someone more mainstream then it might have been easy to try and make out like he had matched her costume accidentally. But there was no way he could play this off. It was going to really obvious that he liked her when he turned up like this. However, he had decided to lean into it. To make this stop him from pining for her from afar and just actually ask her out.

“I thought this might be the impetus I needed to ask her out.”

Emine looked amused his response, but she stopped short of teasing him mercilessly as she could have done. Instead, she ruffled his hair and said, “Hope it goes well.”

\----------

“So this is why people keep telling me where my boyfriend is,” Sana said from behind him.

Turning round, he saw that she was dressed in a green hijab with a plastic axe strapped on to her back. So used to seeing her in a black hijab only, he was struck a little dumb at how beautiful the forest green hijab looked on her.

“Oh hey,” he said.

She gave him an amused looked, her eyes dropping down to his t-shirt and he knew that there was no point in trying to deny anything. That in committing to come in such an obvious matching costume was his way of making himself finally speak up and tell him that he had a crush on her and to see if she wanted to go out some time.

“So, nice party,” he said somewhat awkwardly, trying to build up to actually asking her out.

“Yeah, my friend is running the Kosegruppa this year and she’s determined to make it the best party ever.”

He smiled and said, “I did wonder why we got an invite. You always refuse to go anywhere with Elias.”

She grinned then, bringing her glorious dimples out and he felt a rush of satisfaction at being the one who got that rare smile from her. “Vilde was worried no one would turn up so I offered to bring some more people with me.”

“You Bakkoushes do go all out for your friends.”

“Hmm,” she said, scrunching nose up and then pointedly looking at his t-shirt. “Is that why Elias told you what my costume was?”

Rubbing a sheepish hand across the back of his neck as he stared into the eyes of the beautiful girl standing opposite him, he plucked up all the courage he had and said, “Sana, would you like to go out on a date with me?”

She looked shocked for a moment as if somehow she hadn’t expected his question. Although Yousef couldn’t imagine why. His costume was extra even for him.

“You want to go on a date?” she asked with a furrowed brow.

His heart sank at her question and her facial expression. He had misjudged this so badly and now they were in an awkward position of her having to turn him down gently.

How had he got this so wrong? He was sure there had been moments between them recently. It h been the main reason he’d come dressed as Amir Fadlan tonight. She’d started to look at him more, their eyes catching across the room whenever they were in the same place and her dimples would come out. His crush hadn’t felt so hopeless and he’d decided to try and act on it. But instead, he’d just messed it all up by declaring his feelings.

“Yeah,” he said, his voice quiet and subdued as he braced himself for her rejection.

Instead, her dimples peeped out again and there was a rosy hue to her cheeks. “As long as you take me to eat falafel.”

“Really?!” he asked, surprised.

“What?! You don’t like falafel? Who doesn’t like falafel?”

“No, I like falafel,” he said, his smile returning. “But you really will go out with me?”

“Well,” she said with a teasing tilt of her head. “You’re not Stephen Curry but you’re pretty cute.”

“Wow!” he exclaimed with a nod of his head. “Wow!”

With another big grin, Sana said, “Find me on Facebook and we’ll arrange something.”

She wasn’t even out of sight before the friend request had been sent and he watched as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and laughed when she saw his notification. His own screen lit up with confirmation of her acceptance of his request and they locked eyes across the room, both grinning.

 


	18. Pumpkin carving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana helps Yousef at the kindergarten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lovely anon prompted me on tumblr with: yousef carving pumpkins with the kids in his kindergarten and sana trying to help even though she's shit at it (the girl can't peel a carrot haha <3) 
> 
> And this was too good an opportunity to miss!

“You know you don’t have to help out with this,” Yousef said as they walked into his kindergarten class.

“Yeah, I know that but I want to help,” she said. “If anything it might prove to you once and for all that I _do_ like kids.”

He laughed at that and she grinned at his response. She loved making Yousef laugh and the more time they spent together, the easier it became for her to get such a reaction.

“Mr Yousef! Mr Yousef!” the kids cheered when they saw him walk in and her grin grew even wider.

Seeing Yousef at work was one of the best things ever. He was adored by the kids and he was so good at his job. So good in fact that the head of the kindergarten had spoken to him about training to become a teacher and not just remaining as a teaching assistant. When he had told her about it, she had agreed whole heartedly with Grete. However, he had been nervous about the prospect of applying to university. Like Elias, she knew he hadn’t excelled at school but she knew it would be different when he was studying for something he loved. And he did love working and teaching kids.

Today, he was planning on carving pumpkins with the kids for Halloween. And judging by the amount of aprons and kitchen utensils then it was going to be a big job. Maybe she had underestimated the amount of work involved in this.

“You can back out at any time,” Yousef murmured into her ear. “This is even more complicated than carrot peeling.”

His words did nothing but stiffen her resolve. It might be true that she wasn’t the best at peeling carrots but that didn’t mean pumpkins would be the same. It was a completely different vegetable and bigger so it was probably even easier to manipulate. Besides, she was going to be a surgeon, there was no way that she couldn’t carve a pumpkin!

Narrowing her eyes, she turned to him and stated, “I bet I carve a better pumpkin than you.”

“You hear that kids,” Yousef said turning to the group of avid little eyes that watched them both eagerly. “Miss Sana thinks she’s going to carve a better pumpkin than me. What do you think?”

There was an unflattering cacophony of disagreeing sounds that had her dimples peeping out. His kids loved him so much and it was adorable.

\---------

“Okay, so I think I might have been slightly too ambitious in my aims,” Sana said, half an hour later.

She grimaced as she looked down at herself and saw pumpkin guts splattered generously over her apron as well as any part of her clothing they could reach. It was harder than she had thought scooping the messy insides of the stupid vegetable out. Looking around, she realised that she looked more like the rest of the little kids than any of the adults present.

Of course her boyfriend looked pristine – as if he had just wandered out of the pages of a catalogue rather than just been gutting a stupid pumpkin, which of course was perfectly clean and ready for carving.

“It’s not fair,” she whined. “How come you’re so good at this? And don’t give me some hokey line about how I need to drag it towards me rather than away.”

Yousef laughed before swapping his pumpkin for her half ready one and said, “Hey, do I hate on you for how good you are at Biology and how you always correct my lack of scientific knowledge?”

“No,” she conceded and then added with a pout, “But I wanted to be good at this!”

Picking a blob of pumpkin gloop off her hijab, he said, “How about a game of basketball afterwards?”

“Is that a pity offer to make me feel better about how useless I am at this?”

“No,” he said but she knew better and it was one of the reasons she loved Yousef so much. He would do anything to cheer her up always and she felt like she could achieve anything with him in her corner.

“Okay, but I’m going to dunk this stupid pumpkin!” she exclaimed as she lost control of the carving knife and it made a hole where there wasn’t meant to be a hole.

 


	19. The Good Candy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yousef helps cheer Sana up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is written for @sana-bakkoush's prompt: Swapping candy yousana for the halloween prompts (just imagine middle school sana begging her brother for the good^tm candy)
> 
> It's set just after Sana starts Middle School

Yousef couldn’t help but smile as Sana pouted up at Elias and whined, “But it’s not fair! Half the time the baskets were too high and I couldn’t see what candy I was grabbing.”

“Tough,” Elias said with the hard hearted nonchalance of an older brother. “You shouldn’t be so short then.”

Sana stamped her foot angrily and said, “I can’t help my height.”

Bakkoush sibling fights were a regular occurrence in the Bakkoush house. For all that Elias and Sana had each other’s backs, they would fight like cat and dog, too. They could push each other’s buttons like no one else.

Elias continued to hold his pumpkin bucket high out of her reach and said, “Why would I want to swap all the excellent candy I got for the rubbish you have?!”

“Because I did so with you last year.”

“And now you know better,” Elias said with a wolfish grin.

Yousef watched in some alarm as Sana’s bottom lip wobbled slightly. He had never seen his best friend’s tough little sister cry. She was more likely to pummel Elias than ever cry, but right now there were definite tears in her eyes and her shoulders were slumped dejectedly.

Elbowing his friend in the side, he murmured in Elias’ ear, “Come on. Just give her some of your nice candy. I think she’s going to cry.”

But Elias could be stubborn and he hated being told what to do so Yousef’s words only impact was to make him shake his head with even more determination as he placed his bucket full of nice candy high up on a bookshelf that Sana would never be able to reach.

Shooting her brother a venomous glare, Sana turned away. Yousef thought he saw her wipe surreptitiously at her eyes as she began to stomp out of the book room and his stomach sank a little. He didn’t like seeing anyone upset, but it unnerved him just how to heart Sana was taking her brother’s behaviour. She wasn’t the type to cry ever – no matter how rough Elias’ teasing got – so something must be going on that would cause her this kind of reaction.

“Sana, I’ll swap with you,” Yousef found himself blurting out.

Elias narrowed his eyes suspiciously but he wasn’t paying too much attention. Instead, he watched as Sana spun back around to face them both and said in a confused tone, “You’ll swap candy with me?”

“Yeah,” he said continuing to ignore just how hard Elias was staring at him.

“Why?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “My aunt works at a kindergarten and she usually brings me and my sisters the left over candy anyway, and it’s all pretty nice stuff, so I don’t mind swapping out some of the candy we got tonight.”

Sana unexpectedly smiled at him then, large and wide, and her dimples came out. He blinked a little as if staring into the sun breaking through rainy, grey clouds and put his pumpkin bucket down on the coffee table and said, “Search through and choose what you want.”

“You don’t want to veto any choices?”

“Not really,” he said casually and realised that it was true. The reward was seeing Sana happy and cheerful.

“What was that, bro?” Elias whispered when Sana was distracted looking through all Yousef’s candy.

“She looked like she was going to cry.”

“So?”

“I’ve never seen your sister cry. I’ve seen her get angry and hit you, but cry, never. Plus she seems kind of sad lately.”

Once the words were out, Yousef realised they were true. Sana had looked sad and down recently. The more colourful hijabs that she usually wore had given way to more and more black ones and she would frown more often than smile. The last time he remembered her being in a really good mood had been the week before she had started middle school when she’d been excited about the prospect of a new school and new friends, but since then her mood had started to deteriorate.

“You watch, she’ll expect you to swap candy with her every year now,” Elias warned.

However, Yousef found that he didn’t really care. He hadn’t been lying when he said that his aunt would give him left over candy from her kindergarten so it wasn’t as if he wouldn’t get any more even if Sana swapped out the whole of his bucket.

Yet, when Sana finished a couple of minutes later, Yousef found that she hadn’t even taken that much good candy.

“You sure you don’t want to swap anymore?” he asked.

“No,” she said with a small, slightly shy smile. “Thanks for swapping with me.”

“No problem,” he said.

“You’re such a softie,” Elias said, once Sana had left the room.

Maybe he was, but he also didn’t care. Seeing Sana leave the room with much lighter and happier body language was better than eating all the best candy. He decided then that he would bring her over a bag of his aunt’s candy, too. It was obviously something that made her happy, right now, when not much else was.


	20. Fight Club

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yousef finds himself up against the Bakkoush Brothers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw [this text post](http://sana-bakkoush.tumblr.com/post/164767365347/dont-say-you-love-sana-bakkoush-if-you-wont) from @sana-bakkoush and it made me laugh. It also made me think of a scenario where Yousef has to fight the Bakkoush brothers and the Balloon squad to be deemed worthy of Sana (don't ask how my mind works - I don't understand it myself!).

Yousef frowned as they pulled inside a deserted MacDonald’s carpark. Elias was meant to be dropping them off home and even if he _was_ hungry (unlikely because they had just eaten kebabs), then it would be no point pulling up here because this MacDonald’s wasn’t even open twenty-four hours.

“What are we doing here?” he asked, a little groggily. He had been thinking fondly of his bed and sleep.

“Out,” Elias said in a martial like voice.

“What?”

“Get out!”

Looking around at the other three boys, Yousef saw similar grim expressions on their faces, too and his confusion deepened. However, he got out. It was probably some stupid prank that Mikael was sneakily filming ready to stick up on their You Tube channel.  Ever since that spinner video, the boys delighted in embarrassing him as much as they could on Hei Briskeby. It was alarmingly popular with their subscribers, too.

“What are we doing here?” Yousef asked, once they were all out the car and standing in the cold at 2am in the morning.

“Hang on,” Elias said.

His friends were testing his patience, but from the weirdly tense atmosphere, he knew that pressing them for answers wasn’t going to work. So he waited, thinking more and more longingly of his bed as the minutes ticked by.

“Finally!” Elias muttered as a flash of headlights heralded that another car was joining them.

If he didn’t know any better then he’d suspect this of being some weird drug deal, but none of the boys were really into that and even Even had stopped smoking recently.

Younis, the oldest Bakkoush sibling got out of the other car and alarm bells went off in Yousef’s hand. This was going to be some kind of warning to him now that he and Sana were serious and officially dating. He probably should have expected this, especially from Younis, who took his job as oldest Bakkoush child very seriously.

All the other boys turned in a semi-circle to face him and he signed in resignation and said, “Okay, what is it that I have to do?”

“Fight us,” Elias said.

“Huh?!”

“Fight us,” Younis repeated, his voice a little harder and tougher than his younger brother’s.

“But why?”

“Don’t you remember?” Mikael asked.

“Obviously not.”

“When we were ten, we all swore an oath that we’d make whoever dated Sana fight us in a deserted MacDonald’s car park in the middle of the night,” Adam said in a slow voice as if Yousef was stupid.

Distant memories of a hot day a decade ago filled Yousef’s mind. He remembered how they’d all been talking about how Sana was like a sister to them and how they’d help Elias and Younis scare off any future boys who thought they were good enough for Sana. Whilst agreeing with the idea that it would have be someone special who actually deserved Sana, Yousef, with three older sisters, hadn’t really been into; just going along because everyone else had, all the while thinking about how all three of his sisters would kill him if they heard the terms of the pact. In fact, he had thought the fight idea was so stupid that it had slipped his mind.

“Are you seriously saying I have to fight you in order to be worthy of dating Sana?”

“Yep,” Elias said.

“Are you really asking?” Adam asked incredulously. “This is Sana! You’re lucky it’s just fighting us and not having to take on the whole city.”

“This is stupid, you know that, right? It’s me! You’ve known me since we started kindergarten together.”

Only Mutta cracked, looking a little guilty and sending an apologetic glance his way.

“Rules are rules!” Younis said. “Plus, we all said _wallah_ so it’s binding.”

“Does that mean I have to fight myself?” Yousef asked, the ridiculous nature of this whole scenario dawning on him. He couldn’t help but laugh. “Like Tyler Durden?”

Mikael rolled his eyes and said, “Stop being a smartass. It’s only going to make us actually want to kick your ass.”

“Okay, okay!” Yousef said. “Let’s get on with it. Am I fighting you all at once or is like an obstacle course and I have get through all of you?”

“We’re not animals,” Elias said heatedly. “We’re not going to jump you.”

His lip twitching in amusement, Yousef said, “You should have brought Sana. She could have been waiting behind the last of you.”

“Sana would kill us,” Adam said quietly.

It was true and suddenly there was another flash of headlights. They all looked up quickly, worried that it might be the police who’d probably arrest them for the crime of being brown and in a deserted car park at 2am.

Instead, as if summoned by the very idea of her presence, a tiny and clearly very furious Sana exited the car before it had even come to a complete stand-still.

“What the fuck is going on here?” she asked angrily.

Once the car was parked up, Jamilla followed her sister-in-law and Younis called out, “Traitor! You told her?!”

“ _Habibi,_ I love you, but this is insane,” Jamilla said, exasperation clear in her voice.

“Elias! Younis!” Sana snapped, coming up to them with her arms folded over her chest. “What are you doing?”

“Fighting Yousef,” Mikael piped up, despite all the frantic headshaking from the two Bakkoush boys.

“Fighting Yousef?” Sana said in a deceptively calm voice. “Why?”

Mikael, Adam and Mutta all looked over towards Elias and Younis. It was Younis who finally spoke up, “To make sure he deserves you.”

“Wow!” Sana said sarcastically. “That’s such a fool proof way to check. Why didn’t I think of that?” she added, turning towards Jamilla, who was shaking her head with eyebrows raised at just how dumb her husband and brother-in-law were.

“It’s not like that,” Elias muttered.

“So tell me how it is, _akhi._ What part of beating up your best friend since you were six years old is a good idea?”

Elias fell silent under the ferocious glare of his sister and Yousef couldn’t help the grin that spread over his face. Sana in full force was a glorious sight and one that he never got fed up of seeing. As much as he adored her soft smiles and dimples, he also relished in seeing her reduce those in front of her to nothing more than stammering mess. She was so impressive and he still wasn’t sure just why she was dating him.

“Well, if this is some kind of stupid macho test then I demand to take part.”

“What?” Younis asked.

“I’ll fight you all alongside Yousef.”

“Yeah, if I have to fight Sana then I’m out,” Mutta said horrified.

“Yeah me, too” Adam stated and Mikael nodded his agreement vehemently.

“Don’t be stupid, Sana,” Elias said. “We’re not going to fight you.”

“Just Yousef?”

Elias hung his head a little shame faced. “Well…yeah.”

“This is the dumbest thing I’ve heard out of your mouth and that’s saying a lot,” Sana said bitingly. Then she grabbed Yousef’s hand and said, “Come on, _I’ll_ take you home as my brothers are determined to be dumbasses.”

“Sorry for my stupid brothers,” she said, once they were seated in the back of Jamilla’s car. His arm went around her shoulders and she tucked herself into his side, snuggling her head into the crook of his neck.

He kissed the top of her hijab and said, “Thanks for rescuing me.”

 


	21. The Cookie Conundrum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana needs to bake cookies for Halloween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is written for @livingonaflyingcarpet who's prompt was: I just bought some themed cookie cutters and I can't get this out of my head: This is before they started dating. Mama Bakkoush is holding a Halloween party and asked Sana to prepare cookies (cause it's so easy, right?), and Sana really tried but they're all bloated up & the frosting is EVERYWHERE. And just when she's angry and about to give up, Yousef waltzes in the kitchen with a box of the most perfect cookies ever.
> 
> This is set during Halloween in S3. Hope you like it!

Sana stared down at the undecipherable mess of half baked cookies on the tray and almost threw it at the wall in angry frustration. Why was it so hard to make a batch of cookies using novelty cookie cutters? She had been worrying that the icing was going to be the hard part, but apparently, she had severely over estimated her abilities and couldn’t even bake a fucking cookie.

Slumping down at the table, well away from the tray of melded together cookies and the temptation to chuck them, she flicked irritably through the recipe book her mum had given her. It was the prospect of letting her mum down that was the hardest thing about this whole process. If it was just her then she wouldn’t care. She’d give up and go and bounce a basketball out the back to prove that she was still good at plenty of other things. But this _was_ for her mum.

Every year, the staff on the paediatric ward would bring in various theme goodies for the kids stuck on the ward over Halloween. Her mum usually made gorgeous cookies, iced beautifully and brought them in. But this year her schedule over the next couple of days was super busy meaning she didn’t have time so she’d asked Sana to bake them for her. Sana hadn’t predicted that she would be such a failure at it.

“Hello,” a softly spoken voice said from the doorway.

Looking up Sana saw Yousef standing just inside the kitchen holding a box of something with a smile on his face. Her heart skittered into action at his presence and, despite her bad mood, she couldn’t stop a returning smile breaking out over her face.

“Hi,” she replied.

“Elias said I could put this in here so they don’t get damaged,” he explained.

Rising from her dejected position at the table, Sana asked, “What are they?”

“Cookies. We bake them for the kids at the kindergarten.”

He reached out and showed them to her and she saw a box of gorgeously perfect cookies iced as pumpkins and black cats and cute little witches.

“You made those?” she asked a little in awe.

“Yeah,” he said.

Shooting a horrified look over at the melted giant blob of cookies that she had produced, she hurriedly went to grab the box out of Yousef’s hand. There was no way she wanted him to see how much of an abject failure she was at making cookies. A couple of months ago, she might not have cared, but at some point over the holidays, she had managed to develop a massive crush on her brother’s best friend. Seemingly one day he was just one of her brother’s dumbass friends and the next she was hyper aware of every move he made and her eyes would linger longingly on his face.

“Here,” she said in a rush, wanting to get him out of the kitchen before he spotted her baking disaster. “I’ll put them away for you.”

“It’s okay,” he said, moving to the counter where her tray rested and putting them down. Any hope Sana had that he might not see the tray were dashed when he stopped and noticed it. “Oh. Are you baking too?”

Scowling, she poked at the tray and said, “I’m trying to. Not very successfully.”

Sana couldn’t help the little pout she gave then. Yousef turned to face her, his lovely smile back and said, “Do you need any help?”

Pride had words of refusal spring easily to her tongue, but Sana hesitated and swallowed them back as she looked once more at his cookies. Her mum was counting on her and she really didn’t want to let her down.

With a rueful look up at him, she asked, “Do you have time?”

Yousef shrugged. “We were just going to play Fifa. Of course I can help you out.”

“Then I’d be really grateful if you could help me make cookies that look even half as good as yours. It’s for the paediatric ward at the hospital.”

“ _Well_ , if it’s for kids, how can I say no?” he said with a grin.

\---------

Two hours later, they had several batches of cookies baked, cooled and iced nicely. Sana looked around at the counters and couldn’t help but nod her head. They looked really impressive and she knew that she could not have created any nearly as good without Yousef’s help.

“There!” Yousef said, putting the icing bag down as he finished off the final cookie.

“You’re really good at this,” she said. “You should open a bakery or something.”

He laughed as he turned to face her, which made her furrow her eyebrows in confusion. She didn’t think she had suggested anything funny.

“Sorry,” he said, coming close to her. “You have some icing sugar on your cheek.”

Mortified, Sana dashed a hand over her cheeks and said, “Gone?”

Yousef shook his head so she swiped over her cheeks a couple more times.

“You keep missing it,” he said before putting his hand out towards her face and asking, “Do you mind?”

“No,” she said, wincing as her words came out a little breathlessly.

His fingers brushed over cheek gently and her breath hitched in her chest at the contact. Their eyes met as he softly wiped the icing sugar away and she had the urge to nuzzle into his hand and close the last few centimetres between them. However, she managed to stifle the desire to do so and her breath left her chest in a juddery sigh as his fingers fell away from her face. Her skin tingled from his touch and their eyes continued to devour each other.

“Sana,” he said huskily, stepping a little closer to her as if ready to catch her up in his arms.

However, whatever he had planned to do was lost as there was a slam of the front door that coincided with a cheer from the book room as one of the boys scored against the other. They jumped apart as if caught doing something they shouldn’t and the moment was lost.

Five minutes later, as her mum came into the kitchen, Sana was busily washing up at the sink as Yousef boxed the cookies into the Tupperware her mum had left out for her.

“Oh! You managed to make them,” her mum said, coming over and dropping a kiss on top of her head. “You superstar.”

“Yousef helped,” Sana said.

“Thank you, Yousef,” her mum said warmly.

As her mum bent over to look inside on the containers, their gazes caught once more and Sana’s heart pounded at the flash of heat in his eyes. She wondered what just might have happened had they not been interrupted.


	22. Walking into Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana has to explain her costume to Yousef

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt: meeting at a Halloweenparty and Sana has to explain her costume to Yousef and lots of flirting bc they are the only people who are sober.
> 
> I went with them still knowing each other. This is set in Sana's third year but none of the events that happened between them in S4 have happened other than them being flirty.

“Here let me help,” came a quiet voice from her side.

Sana turned from where she was currently trying wrangle a really drunk Vilde down onto Isak and Even’s bed. She’d managed to get her friend to drink a glass of water, but Vilde needed to sleep and Isak had said to put her in here. Her eyes widened as she saw her brother’s best friend put an arm around Vilde’s waist and take most of the drunk girl’s weight as they eased her down onto the mattress.

“Yousef? You’re not with the boys?”

She hadn’t expected him to be here as Elias had gone to visit Yassin and she’d thought the boys had followed him up to Tronheim for a weekend away.

“No, had to babysit Mama’s cat. Plus Even was getting all sulky about how none of us were coming to he and Isak’s first party in their new flat so I managed to kill two birds with one stone.”

“Aww,” Sana said, charmed that he was sweet enough to care for his mum’s pet instead of going away with his friends.

His cheeks reddened and he said, “Don’t aww me, it makes me really awkward.”

Sana couldn’t help but smile. When Isak and Even had decided throw a Halloween party, she had hoped that Yousef would be there. Things had been getting increasingly flirty between them ever since he’d come back from Turkey and she was conscious of how much she wanted to spend time with him alone, which was hard when he was always with her brother. Then Elias had mentioned that he was going to Tronheim and her heart sank when she’d heard the boys all making plans to go with him. She’d wondered if this party would be her chance to actually spend time with him and been disappointed when she realised that they’d already made plans.

But it appeared that things had turned out fortunately after all.

“So I’m confused. Who are you meant to be?” Yousef asked.

Tugging at the dyed Ikea rug around his shoulders, she said teasingly, “That’s because I’m the only one who didn’t turn up to this party dressed like an extra from _Game of Thrones_!”

Yousef laughed at that. “You always did have more imagination than the rest of us. I’m just amazed that Even didn’t insist on a Baz Luhrmann theme.”

“Yeah, I think this was a compromise. Isak wanted an _It_ theme but, seriously, no one needs more scary nightmare clowns in their life so Even bartered him down to a fantasy theme instead.”

“And everyone but you went with a _Game of Thrones_ character.”

“Yep,” she said smugly.

Yousef reached out and touched one of the bells that was strapped to her chest and said, “But you still haven’t told me who you are?”

Her heart pounded in her chest at his casual touch and she wanted nothing more than to lean into him and see if his arms would be as strong around her as she imagined they would.

“I’m the Abhorsen.”

“The what?”

She grinned again. “A necromancer who sends demons back into death.”

“What series is that from?”

“The _Old Kingdom_ series. They’re good books, you should read them.”

“Do you have a copy you could loan me?”

“Depends,” she said still grinning.

“On what?”

“Are you as bad as Elias when it comes to borrowing books? Will I ever see them again?”

“Wow,” he said, nodding his head. “Wow! You don’t think I’m trustworthy!”

Yousef shot her a playful look that was at odds with his faux hurt tone and she was glad that it was just them and a passed out Vilde in the bedroom because she was sure her reputation would take a hit if everyone saw her smiling this much.

“My _Old Kingdom_ books are very precious to me. I don’t just loan them out to anyone.”

“How about I promise to take really good care of them,” he said, looking adorably at her with soft eyes and a tender smile.

Scrunching her nose up, she narrowed her eyes at him and said, “If you don’t then I will have my bells send you marching past the ninth gate of death.”

He laughed. “I have no idea what that means but it sounds scary so I can safely say that I will look after you books even better than you do.”

Somehow, her grin got even wider and she replied, “I’ll hold you to that.”

There was a low moan from the bed and a weak cry of, “Sana!”

“Ugh,” she said, her face grimacing in disgust. “It’s about to get gross in here so I’d leave if I were you.”

Yousef shook his head. “And leave you to face this alone? That wouldn’t make me a very good Jon Snow.”

He held the bowl out for Vilde as Sana cradled her and held her hair back. Once her friend was sleeping again, she gave him a grateful look and said, “At least she didn’t vomit on me this time.”

“She’s vomited on you before?”

“Yep, the perils of always being the sober one!”

Nodding in agreement, he said, “But you’re a good friend, Sana. She’s lucky to have you.”

Warmth spread through her chest at his words. It wasn’t something that most people noticed – how she looked after her friends when they were drunk, but she was glad that he did.

“Come one,” he said, holding out his hand to help her up off the bed. “What does the Abhorsen drink after taking on the dead?”

“Tea.”

“I think I can manage to make you a cup of tea to celebrate defeating your friend’s vomit.”

Her dimples came out once more as they headed towards the kitchen and she planned to keep Yousef by her side for the rest of the party – maybe even for the rest of her life!


	23. The Han to My Leia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana keeps being told her boyfriend is at the party...but she doesn't have one!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt: They accidentally wear the same or the same kind/ matching costumes
> 
> Set during Halloween of S3

“Your boyfriend is in the kitchen,” A random girl said as she passed her before grabbing onto her arm and adding, “You make the cutest Leia and Han ever.”

Chris snorted as the girl disappeared off in a wave of wine fumes and Sana threw her hands up in confusion. The girl was the third person that night to tell her where her ‘boyfriend’ was, which would be sweet if she actually _had_ a boyfriend.

“What is going on?” she asked Chris.

“There’s only one way to find out,” Chris replied. “Go into the kitchen and find out just who is dressed up as Han.”

Sana hesitated. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know who everyone was referring to. God, it could be one of Penetrators and she still thought they were gross no matter how many times Eva hooked up with Chris or Noora made excuses for just why she had returned from London that had nothing to do with William himself.

“Go on, girl!” Chris encouraged. “He might be super cute. He might actually be your future boyfriend.”

Scrunching her face up at the thought of something so cheesy, she ask, “Where do you even get these lines from?”

Chris shrugged. “Who knows. There are some dumb boys at our school with the worst lines.”

“Too true, too true. So do I even want to know who this Han is?”

“He might not be from our school.”

Sana had to nod in acknowledgement because Chris was right. This wasn’t one of those parties that was segregated by school – there were lots kids from all over Oslo here.

“Come on!” Chris said, pushing her playfully and making her move in the direction of the kitchen. “I bet you 500 krone that he’s cute.”

“How many times, Chris!”

“How many times what?”

“Do I have to tell you that I don’t gamble. It’s haram.”

“Oh yeah, sorry. Keeps slipping my mind.”

Sana had to laugh because unlike Vilde, who was subconsciously rude on a regular basis, Chris was the one out of her friends who made the biggest effort to understand Islam and it’s impact on Sana’s life.

The kitchen was surprisingly busy and it wasn’t Sana who laid eyes on the mysterious Han first, but Chris, who let out a low whistle and said, “I wish you did bet now. I would be 500 krone richer.”

Following to where her friend was pointing, Sana tried not to gape as she took in Han. Chris and all the random girls were right. He was an undeniably gorgeous Han. Chris was also right that he didn’t go to Nissen, which Sana knew because she knew exactly who he was.

Yousef Acar made a very dashing Han Solo.

Which wasn’t helpful to her burgeoning crush on him that had been developing over the past couple of months. She’d returned from summer in Morocco and suddenly started seeing Yousef in a new light. No longer was he one of her brother’s dorky and slightly annoying friends, who she’d roll her eyes at. Now, she was hyper aware every time he was in the same room as her and struggled to tear her eyes away from him.

Today proved to be no different.

“Earth to Sana. Earth to Sana,” Chris said, waving a hand in front of her face. “Have you been struck dumb by just how handsome he is?”

“Something like that,” Sana said, breaking out of her stupor and squeezing through several groups of people to reach him.

“If you tell me that Elias is here then I’m going to have to leave.”

At the sound of her voice, Yousef turned to face her, a smile already gracing his face. “Ah, Leia. It all makes sense now.”

“Sense?”

“I kept being told that my very lovely girlfriend was here.”

 Distracted by the notion that random mentions of a girlfriend made sense to Yousef now she’d turned up, Sana asked, “But that doesn’t make sense as to why it would be me?”

“One girl begged me to ask you just how you got your hijab to twist into Leia buns.”

“Oh,” she said, a little deflated at the mundane explanation.

“So how did you?” Yousef asked.

“YouTube tutorials. And you never answered my question about Elias.”

“But if I do then I’m worried you’ll desert me. Jabba could be here, Sana!” he said, leaning forward as his smile broadened.

She couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re such a dork. Don’t tell me, you all have a Star Wars theme going on and somehow I’m inadvertently matching.”

“Yep. Elias is Luke, too, so that’s super fitting! Just don’t kiss him, please, even to make me jealous.”

Choking a little at his words, she said, “I think I can safely say that I will never make that mistake.”

“Good. It would break my heart.”

They eyes met and their gazes lingered. Sana could feel the heat rushing into her cheeks at Yousef’s brazenly flirty nature. He was always sweet towards her, the one out of all the boys to make sure she was included in take out plans and if Elias somehow roped her into making tea for all the boys, he’d be the one to come and help her. But he’d never been so teasingly flirty and she couldn’t help but grin back at him, giddy and a little bit dazed under his warm dark eyes.

“So, are you going to introduce me to your future boyfriend or not?” Chris said.

Sana whirled to face her wickedly amused friend, whose presence she had temporary forgotten about due to just how charming Yousef was.

“What?” she asked a little too sharply for it to be casual.

“Future boyfriend,” Chris said too innocently. “Your costumes are too early in the franchise for Leia and Han to be dating yet. Hence future boyfriend.”

Narrowing her eyes at her friend, Sana let the totally unsubtle comment go as Yousef laughed in delight at Chris’ teasing.

“Hi, I’m Yousef. A friend of Sana’s brother.”

“Chris. A friend of Sana.”

As Yousef asked if they wanted a drink and turned to locate apple juice for Sana, Chris leaned over and murmured, “Shame you don’t gamble because I would bet you 300,000 krone that he’ll be your boyfriend in a couple of months.”


	24. CSI: Oslo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana's prepared a gruesome murder scene for Elias to stumble upon...however, it's not Elias who discovers it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for @itsadifferenthope for the prompt: yousana :)) - scaring each other 
> 
> Except I changed to prompt to accidentally scaring the wrong person...I hope that's okay!
> 
> Set during Halloween in S3

The sound of a scream had Sana grinning wickedly. She’d been patiently waiting for her brother to return and find the gruesome scene that she’d prepared in the front room. With their parents away for the weekend to celebrate their wedding anniversary, she’d been able to go to town on all the details with no one there to rein her in.

It was a tradition now that the two youngest Bakkoushs would try and scare each other as much as possible in the build up to Halloween. It had started years ago when Elias had placed a load of plastic cockroaches in her bed, knowing how much she hated them and was scared of how they seemed to tag team up against you. Or least the ones in Morocco did. That had earned Elias a week of washing up duty but he had deemed it worth it. Ever since then the Bakkoush Halloween Scare Fest had been on.

However, this year she’d gone all out to get her own back for his evil prank on her last year when he lurked dramatically in the corner of Sana’s room dressed in a dark robe with fucking cloven feet and she’d woken up in the night and screamed the place down certain that there was a djinn in her bedroom.

Scampering out of bed and quickly wrapping a hijab around her head just in case Elias had one of his friends in tow, Sana gleefully made her way to the book room ready to cackle at him. When she got there, she saw a figure bending over her ‘dead’ body. Grinning widely, she exclaimed, “Gotcha!”

However, the face that turned around to face her wasn’t Elias at all, but his best friend Yousef. A pale and shaking Yousef, which she hadn’t bargained for when she’d staged a bloody murder scene complete with a mannequin version of herself lying face down in a pool of blood.

“Oh my God, Sana!” he exhaled with clear relief in his voice as he hurriedly got to his feet, strode quickly towards her and wrapped her up in his arms.

Confused, she remained stiff for a moment, but the warmth of his embrace along with how good he smelt had her melting into the hug as she twined her arms around his waist. She could feel his chest shaking as he dragged in deep shuddering breaths and clutched her tightly to him. There was a brief press of his lips onto the top of her head and she was sure she should drag herself away from him but it felt so good to be surrounded by him. The revelation stunned her and had her heart beating heavily in her chest as she realised just what that meant.

For the past couple of weeks, Sana had been more aware of Yousef. It had started when he’d returned from Turkey with tanned skin that made his eyes seem an even deeper brown and caused his smile to sparkle even more. She hadn’t even realised just how much she’d missed his presence in her house until he was back, asking her if she wanted to play basketball with them or knocking on her door and asking if she wanted some tea as he was making a pot for the rest of the boys. Then there was the way her chest as swelled as he’d shyly given her a box of Turkish Delight from Hacı Bekir and explained that he remembered how much she’d liked the box he’d brought back for the Bakkoushs the year before and wanted to bring her more back. She’d dismissed the feelings as nothing more than fondness for her brother’s oldest and best friend.

However, with how relaxed she felt in his arms it was clearly more than that and she tucked her head into the crook of his neck, closing her eyes and revelling in the sensation of being so close to him.

“I thought you were dead,” he murmured into her ear. “That you were dead and I never told you just how much you meant to me.”

“What I mean to you?” she queried, her breath brushing against the skin on his neck and she smiled as he shivered in response.

Yousef pulled back then and cupped her face in both his hands, his eyes met hers and she got lost in the intense expression in them. “I’ve had the biggest crush on you for over a year now,” he confessed.

“You have?”

“Yeah. It’s kind of embarrassing just how much I adore you.”

Sana stared at him entranced by his words and the delight that washed through her at him.

“And then I walked in here tonight,” he said before he broke off and took another shuddering breath. “I thought you were gone and my heart broke.”

“I’m sorry,” she said in a heartfelt tone. “It was meant to be for Elias. To get him back for making me think there was a djinn in my room last year.”

He tugged her close again, resting his cheek on top of her head and said, “I’m just glad you’re okay. Please don’t scare me like that again.”

“I won’t,” she promised as she listened to the soothing sound of his heartbeat and realised how devastated she’d feel if she never heard it again.

“Wow,” Elias said behind them a few moments later. “When I gave you my keys to come up instead of waiting in the cold for me, I didn’t realise you’d take that as an invitation to hit on my sister.”

Embarrassed at being caught embracing, they disentangled themselves from each other and turned to face Elias, who was watching them with an amused expression on his face. His eyes then wandered around the room and his eyebrows rose as he nodded his head, clearly impressed.

“You really went to town, sis. No wonder Yousef finally got up the guts to ask you out.”

“Er,” Yousef said. “I hadn’t quite gotten there yet.”

Rolling his eyes, Elias said, “I’m going to the kitchen then. I’ll be back in ten minutes so don’t get any ideas!”

Waiting until Elias was out of sight, Yousef turned back to Sana and said, “So, can I take you on a date?”


	25. No Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana goes trick or treating with Yousef and his niece

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for @lookingforheaven for the prompt: Yousana Halloween prompts! Sana and Yousef end up going trick or treat together with one of their nephew or niece
> 
> Zehra's costume is definitely based off [this little girl's](http://rumaan.tumblr.com/post/166927668821) amazing costumes!

“Are you sure you don’t want to go out to dinner with your friends?” Yousef asked.

“Nope,” Sana replied blithely. “I’d rather spend the evening with you.”

“But you can see me at the party later.”

“I’m going to see the girls at the party later,” Sana countered.

“But it’s trick or treating with my niece.”

She had to laugh at just how perplexed her boyfriend sounded. Shooting him a teasing glance, she said, “Contrary to popular belief, I do not hate kids and this is good practice for when Jamilla and Majid give me a niece or nephew in a few years.”

“Or when you have kids of your own?”

Her stomach swooped at the thought of kids. She couldn’t help but think of children with Yousef’s soft hair and her dimples. It didn’t matter that they had only been really dating since his return from Turkey, she knew that he was the one for her. However, she hadn’t voiced this to anyone aware of how everyone would point out her age and how little time she and Yousef had been dating. So she played it light around others all the while knowing how deeply in love she was with him.

“I think Jamilla and Majid will have kids before me. I still have medical school to get through.”

“Is Stephen Curry happy to wait?” Yousef asked with a goofy grin.

“He’ll have to be!”

Yousef slung his arm around her shoulder, brought her in against his side and kissed the top of her head. “Yeah, if he’s got any sense then he’ll be happy to wait as long as it takes until you’re ready.”

Warmth blossomed in her chest at his words. He might have said Stephen Curry but there was no mistake that he was letting her know that he was happy for her to set the pace with kids as well as with their relationship on a whole. There was so much to love about Yousef, but the general way he made her feel safe and valued was up there as one of her favourite aspects of him. He was so generous towards her and she wasn’t always sure she deserved it, but Yousef never held back, which meant she was able relax with him in a way that she couldn’t with anyone else. It never left her feeling vulnerable either, something she definitely appreciated. Yousef was never going to use anything against her – it wasn’t in his nature and this allowed her to be even more open with him in turn.

\-------------

“Why have I not met your niece before?” Sana murmured in Yousef’s ear as she watched a crowd of children give Zehra a wide birth. “She’s awesome.”

Yousef shrugged, “I don’t know. It makes no sense. She loves you as I knew she would.”

Sana and Zehra had bonded on sight. In fact, all it had taken for Sana to fall in love with the little girl was sight of her costume. The little 5 year old had spurned all the popular princess or cutesy witch themes to dress up as No Face from Spirited Away and was clearly enjoying the terrified reactions of the other little kids. One little girl had cried when she’d come across Zehra and whilst a very embarrassed Yousef had apologised to the girl’s parents, Sana had slyly high fived Zehra.

It was clear that Zehra was her own person despite her young age and Sana couldn’t help but admire the strength of character that showed. She was sure Zehra was going to be a force of nature when she grew up.

Zehra skipped back from the latest house where she’d grabbed a handful of chocolate from to dump in her pumpkin bucket and wrapped her slightly sticky hand around Sana’s.

“Come on, Sana _teyze_ , the next house has an awesome spider web hanging over it’s door! You have to put your hand through to get the candy!”

Sana grinned and looked briefly back at Yousef who was watching his niece drag his girlfriend down the road with a tender expression on his face. Catching his eye, the thought that she wouldn’t mind having kids sooner rather than later with him ran through her mind. Especially if that kid was anything like Zehra.


	26. Surprise!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yousef and Jamilla plan the perfect birthday for Sana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Sana's 18th birthday and I just about managed to get this written in time! It's barely edited so excuse the inevitable typos and mistakes.

“I want to do something good for Sana’s birthday,” Jamilla whispered, looking over her shoulder where Sana was squaring up to her brothers and arguing about who had cheated this time with the yellow marble in Hungry Hippos.

Yousef couldn’t help but smile softly at the scene. The contradiction that was Sana Bakkoush was one of the major reasons why he loved her so much. The girl who topped her class in all the sciences and maths, and who had ambitious plans to be a kick ass surgeon, would also sit down and play a competitive game of Hungry Hippos with her brothers because that’s what they had done every year during the holidays since she was three.

“Like what?” Yousef murmured back.

Sana’s birthday had been looming large on his calendar ever since he’d returned from Turkey – primarily because he was nervous about the delicate gold necklace that spelt her name out in Arabic that he’d brought her whilst in Istanbul. Was it too soon to be getting her jewellery? After all, he’d had it made when they hadn’t even defined what they were. However, when he’d caught himself looking at engagement rings, he’d asked for the necklace to stop himself from presenting her with a glittering diamond and a promise to be by her side forever. As usual, when it came to Sana Bakkoush, there was nothing chill about his actions. It was all or nothing for him and every day it was a struggle to keep from talking about marriage and kids.

“I was thinking a surprise party. You know, something to show Sana just how much we all love her. She hasn’t had the easiest of years and gathering all her friends in one place to shower her in love seems like a good thing. But I wanted to check you hadn’t planned anything yet? Well, nothing non-refundable anyway,” Jamilla said with a good natured roll of her eyes to show that she knew just how over the top Yousef was.

Of course he had already planned a romantic night for them, but he liked Jamilla’s idea. Sana never truly understood just how loveable she was and being surrounded by her friends and family on her eighteenth birthday seemed like the perfect way to emphasis to her once more just how important she was.

“Nothing I can’t cancel,” he said.

“You got an idea of where to have this party?” Jamilla asked.

He scrunched up his nose. It was deep into December and so an outside venue was out of the question. Not unless they all wanted to freeze to death and whilst they could do it in the Bakkoush house, it would be nice to hold it somewhere different for her. It was then that he remembered his uncle’s restaurant. It was a really good size and had some of the best home-style Turkish food in Oslo. For this reason, it was popular. However, with ten days to go, he was sure he could book it without putting any of the customer’s noses out of joint.

“I know the perfect place,” he said. “Leave it to me. I’ll organise the venue and food. You round up the people and decorations.”

Jamilla grinned conspiratorially at him and said, “Deal!”

The sound a frustrated shout behind them had their heads turning towards the heated trio of siblings. Sana was currently up in the face of her eldest brother, Mounir, and gesticulating passionately whilst he smugly held the yellow marble up over his head and out of her reach. Knowing how the Bakkoush siblings rolled, this was going to turn really nasty in thirty seconds.

Groaning, Jamilla said, “I’ll grab my hot-headed Bakkoush and you get yours.”

\--------------

Sana pouted at Yousef for the tenth time that day and said, “Are you still not going to tell me where we’re going?”

“Nope,” he said, as he weaved the car in and out of the early evening Oslo traffic.

“It’s my birthday,” she wheedled. “You shouldn’t be keeping any secrets from me!”

Yousef let out a puff of laughter and said, “It’s a surprise not a secret.”

Narrowing her eyes in the direction of her boyfriend, she wracked her brain to think of another tact to get him to tell her what was going on. So far, nothing had worked. Not beating him on the basketball court or threatening to take him to a swan sanctuary had got him to spill what he was planning for tonight. Then a flash of gold had her looking down at the gold necklace that was just long enough to sit outside her hijab. Her gaze softened as she ran her fingers over the warm, smooth metal. The Arabic calligraphy was pretty and decorative and she’d stared down at it, stunned, when Yousef had shyly given it to her earlier in the day. She’d been happy with the teddy bear wearing Stephen Curry’s Warriors shirt that she’d found waiting on her bed the night before, a happy 18th birthday balloon tied around it’s wrist. Then he’d given her this today and it felt intimate in a way none of her other presents did and her chest swelled at the warmth that emanated from where the necklace lay.

The car came to stop outside a familiar Turkish restaurant.

“You’re taking me to your uncle’s place?” she asked, excitedly. She loved Turkish food and everyone knew that Timur Acar served the best Turkish food in Oslo.

“No,” Yousef said, apologetically. “I just need to drop off some keys for my cousin. He’s coming over to fix the cooker.”

“Oh,” she said, a thread of disappointment tinging her tone.

It didn’t matter because she was sure whatever Yousef had up his sleeve was going to be good, but she always liked going to his uncle’s restaurant. Not only was the food amazing, but there was always a couple of his cousins lurking around who would join them and tell Sana stories that showed her a whole different side to Yousef. She could listen to Acar family stories all day.

The restaurant was dark inside, which had Sana frowning. It was 7pm on a Sunday evening and the place should have been bustling. It didn’t matter that it was Christmas Eve, the restaurant was always busy and got bookings on Christmas Day for its Turkish style Christmas lunch.         

However, Yousef didn’t appear to find this odd. He pushed the door open without even worrying that it might be locked. With a shrug of her shoulders, Sana followed him inside and then blinked as the lights came streaming on and there was a deafening chorus of, “Happy Birthday!”

It took a moment for her eyes to get used to the light, but once they did, she saw that the restaurant had been decked out in streamers and balloons and there was a giant banner proclaiming “Happy Birthday Sana!” high up on the wall. Under the banner was a table with presents piled high and sitting in pride of place was a massive multi-layered baklawa cake that had her mouth watering. She knew that Yousef must have made it especially for her because she’d found it on a blog the other day and showed it to him with a joke about how it must have been created just for her as it combined her two favourite things, baklawa and cake.

Standing around the room were all her friends and family and she couldn’t help but stand in shocked silence at seeing everyone gathered there just for her. With how lonely and low she’d felt just six months ago, seeing everyone here for her had tears welling up in her eyes and she ran a shaky hand under her eyes to wipe the moisture away.

Turning to face Yousef, she asked, “Was this your idea?”

“I would love to take the credit,” he replied with a massive grin. “But the brainchild was all Jamilla’s.”

Her sister in law stepped forward and engulfed Sana in a massive hug and with that moment the music came on and the party was in full swing.


	27. Golden Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana goes for the GS and Downhill double and gets even more than she bargained for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the amazing @lo-cotidiano/ifwallscouldspeak for the prompt: Yousef is a snowboarder and Sana is a skier and he keeps flirting with her by throwing snowballs at her.
> 
> I only kept to the spirit of prompt but I went for a big moment snowball flirting by Yousef! Hope you like it, lovely!

Sana couldn’t help the little smile that curled up the corners of her lips when she saw Yousef standing across the courtyard of the Norwegian section of the Olympic Village. No matter how hard she tried to keep a straight – maybe even slightly stern – face, it would always soften as soon as she laid eyes on him. She would feel her lips tug up, her eyes melt and the walls she always maintained tumble down in his presence.

Then to make matters worse, she couldn’t even hide her reaction, which the snort from Chris and the sly nudge in her ribs from Jamilla told her.

“Oh look who it is,” Noora teased in a sing-song voice.

Vilde clapped in glee and squealed loudly, “Yossi!”

Sana wanted nothing more than to clap her hand over her friend’s mouth, but it was too late. Yousef, Elias and the rest of the boys had already spotted them and were loping towards them with the loose, easy grace of snowboarders.

“Remember Mikael is vlogging for Norwegian television, Sana,” Eva said quietly with a grin. “So keep those dimples in check around Yousef. We’d hate for your adoring public to see what a softie lies underneath your snow queen persona.”

“Girls,” Elias said with a flourish before turning his grinning face towards the camera. “You’re in luck today, viewers, because we’ve got the prettiest and coolest girls at the whole Olympics with us and they need no introduction.”

Sana rolled her eyes at her brother’s theatrics. There was no doubt that he was going to go into a job in punditry once his career as a slope style snowboarder was finished. He was always the first that the Norwegian networks approached to get behind the scenes access to the Winter Olympians knowing how fun and charismatic he and the rest of his snowboarding squad was.

Elias slung his arm around Sana’s shoulders and said, “First let’s talk to the Pocket Rocket herself!”

As always, Sana appreciated that Elias used her preferred nickname, the one which referred to how quickly she could get down a mountain on skis and not the moniker that the media had given her of Snow Queen because of how fierce Sana often looked. It wasn’t easy being the first hijabi to represent Norway in either of the Olympics. It also wasn’t easy being the first successful hijabi alpine skier. Media followed her around and it wasn’t always positive. She was judged more harshly than any of the other competitors and any mistakes she made were amplified, often with implications that Norway should find a more _traditional_ athlete to represent them. Therefore, the pressure cooker atmosphere of alpine skiing was doubled for her and she’d raised the barriers around herself to cope. She wasn’t going to win any awards for friendliest competitor, but she was able to protect herself better at least.

“It’s the big one tomorrow,” Elias said. “The downhill and Norway would dearly love to hold both the men and the women’s titles, so how are you feeling?”

Trust Elias to bring out the big questions as if he was actually a presenter and not the silver medallist in the slope style.

Rattling off a stock answer, Sana kept her eyes firmly away from where Yousef was standing at the back of the group. She could feel his gaze on her and she wanted nothing more than to bask in his attention but this vlog would be watched by most of Norway and she needed to be seen to maintain her focus. Nothing was guaranteed in skiing and if she made a mistake tomorrow then it would be jumped upon by her detractors who would pull apart any appearances she made in the media to try and say that she wasn’t giving her all. No matter that she already had the gold medal from the Super-G.

“Well, all of us that can come will be there tomorrow, won’t we,” Elias said to loud cheers from the group around them and Sana allowed her eyes to meet Yousef’s then and a soft grin to spread over her face. Having his support in the crowd along with her brothers, her sister-in-law and her friends would mean the world to her.

\-----------

Lungs bursting and legs burning, Sana skidded to a stop in the enclosure at the bottom of the run. Snow vapour clouded around her for a split second, enclosing her in an icy mist that allowed her head to clear slightly. It had been a good run; she could feel it had been a good run and eagerly she raised her head to the large screen that had her score and position on it. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she saw just how quick her run was. It was the fastest that anyone has gone down by over a second and she was the last of the main competitors down.

Raising her ski poles up, she grinned and jumped up and down a couple of times, allowing the screams of the crowd to wash over her. Exhilarated by skiing down the mountain at over a hundred miles per hour, she revelled in the moment before catching her coach’s eye. He gave her a wink and a nod to show how proud he was.

Then, before she could scan the crowd to find her family and friends, a snowball came out of nowhere and smacked her in the face, knocking her googles askew. The crowd was stunned into silence at the action and she heard a shocked Vilde exclaim, “Yossi! What are you doing?!”  

Turning towards the sound, Sana saw her friends and family gathered at the front of the stands with large Norwegian and Moroccan flags draped in front of them over the barriers. Yousef was sheepishly rubbing a hand down the back of his neck, his cheeks red with embarrassment. Fondness rushes through her body as she realised the boy she liked just lobbed a snow ball into her face at the bottom of her potential gold winning run to get her attention.

With the adrenalin still coursing through her body and making her braver than normal, Sana glided over to where he stood and flung her arms around his neck. For a surprised split second he did nothing but then his arms closed around her, wrapping her up into a bear hug as he lifted her off the snow and pulls her as tightly to him as he can with a barrier between them.

“That’s my girl,” He murmured into her ear. “You blew them all away!”

Her heart pounded at his words and she felt as if she’d taken another run down the mountain with how her blood roared at his words. She’d hidden her crush on the Snowboarding half-pipe champion for years, sure that he saw her as nothing more than an honorary little sister, but his actions and his words showed that her feelings weren’t unrequited. Tucking her head under his chin despite all helmet and googles, she basked in the moment.

She was a double Olympic champion and was celebrating in the arms of the man of her dreams.


	28. Curling Boys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elias and his team are determined to curl in style!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @lo-cotidiano/if walls could speak sent me [this post](http://mudphudkangaroo.tumblr.com/post/171043371070/harrysimpact-harrysimpact-harrysimpact) and commented how perfect it was for a Balloon Squad AU. As usual, Jennifer is completely right.
> 
> This is primarily a Balloon Squad fic with only a small mention of Yousana but it's not really long enough to warrant posting on it's own.

“These are really dull,” Elias said, holding the plain dark blue pair of trousers up.

“And unflattering,” Mutta said, pulling them up over his jeans and grimacing at how they seemed to cling to all the wrong places and just hang in others.

“We’re going to look so unattractive in them,” Yousef said pulling at the fabric Mutta was wearing.

Mikael snorted. “Hmmm wonder why  _ you _ are worried about that?!”

“Oi!” Elias snapped, not appreciating how often Yousef’s crush on his sister was brought up these days. 

Mikael raised his hands in a sorry gesture but his eyes still glinted mischievously showing how how unapologetic he really was. Elias pretended he couldn’t see the slightly apprehensive look that Yousef shot his way or his best friend’s scarlet cheeks. If Yousef didn’t come probably clean soon the Elias was going to have to say something, but for now he was refusing to concentrate on anything other than winning the gold medal at the Winter Olympics. The rather sorry state of Yousef and Sana failing to flirt competently with each other was going to have to wait.

“I might have a solution,” Adam said, lifting his head from his laptop and turning it around for the rest of the boys to see.

Elias could see rows of colourful patterned trousers staring back at him and asked, “What are those?”

“The trousers we’re going to replace these ugly ones with.”

Mutta and Mikael pushed past him to crowd around the laptop and Elias sighed. “Excuse me! But who’s the skip of this team?”

“Who has the better fashion sense?” Mutta countered.

“He has a point,” Yousef commented. “Mutta does dress better than you. If you have your way then all we’d wear are Adidas trousers.”

Pouting, Elias asked, “What’s wrong with Adidas?” 

“Nothing for practice,” Mutta said. “But we need to make a  _ statement _ !”

“We’re already making a statement,” Elias muttered but he didn’t complain further, keen instead to look at the options in front of them. Besides, there was no harm in drawing even more attention to themselves with better clothing. People were already talking about them and how they brought much needed melanin to Norway’s curling team. 

Norway’s Winter Olympics team was usually whiter than white, however this year with him and the boys being the top Norwegian Curling team and Sana and Jamilla bossing the cross country ski team, they were representing a new era of Norwegian winter sports that was saturated with second generation athletes. 

“We’re going to need a new style for each round,” Mikael said, grabbing a pad of paper and jotting down the number of the rounds. “And then a different pair for the semi-finals and final.”

“If we get there,” Adam murmured.

Glaring at him, Elias said, “Of course we’re going to get the final!”

“Especially if we wear trousers like these,” Yousef quipped with a grin.

“Okay,” Mutta said. “Get the website up on your phones and pick your top 5 styles. We’ll eliminate patterns from those.”

Silence fell over the group as they settle down to the serious task of choosing outlandish trousers for them to further shock the world of Curling with. 

\---------

Elias could hear the snickers from the crowd as he and his team strode out in their custom trousers. Whispers flew around the stands and he knew that all eyes were currently on them. He interjected an extra swagger into his steps, allowing his confidence to shine through. Their over the top trousers plus open confidence could play into causing doubt to creep into their opponents’ minds.

“I wish they allowed us to come out to music,” Yousef said quietly. 

“You could have choreographed an entrance,” Mikael teased.

“That would have been sick!” Adam exclaimed.

“What will be sick is when we win this first match in style,” Mutta said.

“Double style,” Mikael joked, fingering his trousers and grinning.

“ _ Yalla! _ ” Elias said. “Concentrate and let’s get this game won.”

 


	29. Straight Out of Wikipedia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana and Yousef have been secretly dating for months now to avoid the hysteria of their fans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As the Winter Olympics come to a close, I also wrap up my Winter Olympics AUs with figure skating!Yousana.
> 
> And yes I totally stole this idea from fans of Canadian Ice Dancers, Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue who did change Moir's Wikipedia page to make out they are getting married this summer and they really do have a fanclub in China that is named after forcing them to get married!

If anyone had asked Sana when she was younger what the hardest part of being a world class international figure skater would be, she probably would have said the competition. It was never easy getting to the top of a sport discipline and anything involving ice was always perilous. Nothing was guaranteed in sport and it was something all athletes had to come to terms with whatever sport they played.

Public scrutiny was not something she’d really considered when she was younger. Well not public scrutiny of her love life anyway.

There had always been the scrutiny regarding her background and her religion, which she had never been too happy about. She wanted to be accepted as a sportswoman in her own right and not constantly be answering questions about her faith and wearing hijab and what that meant for both the sport and other Muslim women. It wasn’t that she resented being a role model for other Muslim women. No, it was that questions regarding her sporting ability always came after questions about Islam. That didn’t happen with any of her peers. They were always asked about their performance or the competition or injuries. But for Sana, she had to navigate a minefield of questions that she hadn’t gone into figure skating to answer. She couldn’t deny that she resented those questions.

Then Elias had gone and ruptured his knee and had to retire. It had been easy skating with her brother. Sure, some people were weird about it. Claimed that because they were siblings it was harder to feel excited about their skating because the ‘spark’ wasn’t there. She had always rolled her eyes and scoffed about how everyone assumed that because you skated together then you had to be sleeping together.

However, when Elias’ career was ended through injury, she’d had to find a new partner. Yousef had been the obvious choice and much to her delight, they had gelled straight away. It had felt like fate. Suddenly, she was no longer finishing third or fourth in competitions but first. Their ability to just know what the other was doing on the ice meant that they could put together more complicated routines and the jumps could be bigger and more technical. It had been incredibly satisfying. The one part that she hadn’t seen was her becoming a cliche and falling in love with her partner.

It was probably karma for how she snorted when other skating pairs hooked up and started dating. Rolling her eyes, she had always nudged Elias and been grateful that it wasn’t something she ever had to worry about. They weren’t Lannisters after all.

However, Yousef had come along and he was everything Sana never knew she wanted in a man: a loveable dork who could be deep when he wanted. He had breached her walls with his unfailing sweetness and how he always looked out for her. She had always known that Elias was in her corner. That went without saying. The Bakkoush siblings had always been ride or die. Yet, when Yousef had arrived, he’d been the same. He had her back no matter what. It wasn’t something she was used to and it had melted her barriers completely.

Of course, Sana wasn’t the only person to have noticed. Millions of committed figure skating fans had also noticed and Sana had gone from being a fairly popular figure skater to being at the centre of a maelstrom regarding her love life. Now everything she and Yousef did on the ice was analysed minutely. Any stray hand on her back or a friendly arm around the shoulder was dissected into showing that they were really in love with each and just needed thousands of people and a fanclub in China to tell them that they should date.

So they had started dating. Secretly of course. There was no way Sana was giving fans the credit for her feelings and she could only imagine how insane the frenzy around them would get if it was revealed that they actually were a romantic item. Only their families, closest friends and coaches knew and no one had slipped yet. 

Arriving in South Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics, Sana had expected nothing to change. 

And it didn’t right until the very end.

As Sana ascended onto the top step of the podium, her hand tucked into Yousef’s to make sure she didn’t fall stepping onto it, she waved to the packed stadium once more and then frowned when she realised Yousef wasn’t by her side any more.

Confused, she spun back to see where he’d gotten to. He was still standing before the podium with his pulse pumping nervously at the base of his throat. 

_ Why was he anxious _ ? Sana thought. They’d made it through the competition and claimed the gold medal they, and most of the pundits, had expected them to win. It had all gone their way and there was nothing left to do but wait for someone to hang the gold medal around their necks and then go and cheer their friends and fellow teammates on in other disciplines.

“Yousef?” she asked curiously.

Then a pair of young Korean ice skaters who came on at the end of each routine to pick up flowers and other gift thrown into the ice glided over. One was holding a microphone in her hand and the other had her hands behind her back.

Sana’s bemusement wasn’t lifting. The same confusion was written large on the faces of the couples who had come second and third and the puzzled whispering of the crowd in the stands was getting louder.

Then Yousef took the microphone with a slightly sheepish expression on his face and cleared his throat.

“Hi everyone, sorry for the change of programming here, but there’s something really important I need to ask my partner, Sana Bakkoush.”

Realisation of what he was doing rushed through her mind and suddenly she remembered a conversation they’d had seven months ago when they’d discussed their future and how this neither of them were dating for the fun of it. How both of them envisaged a future together but that preparing and being ready for the Olympics was the most important thing for them right at that moment so they would think about marriage once the Olympics had finished. Well, it had finished for them right now and apparently Yousef didn’t want to wait any longer.

A fond smile blossomed on her lips as he got down on one knee and the other young figure skater passed him over an open box. 

“Sana Bakkoush, you are the sun who lights up my day. I love you more than I thought possible and I would be honoured if you would be my wife and have twelve children with me. Will you marry me?”

The crowd in the stadium went wild but she couldn’t hear them at all, instead she was purely focused on the man she loved, kneeling on the ice with a ring in his hand. 

“Yes,” she said, drowning deep in his eyes. “Although not to the twelve children.”

With a massive grin on his face, Yousef got back onto his feet, leapt onto the podium and wrapped her up in his arms.

Tucking her face into his neck, Sana murmured, “You proposed at the gold medal ceremony?”

She felt his shoulders shake with laughter. “I saw someone had edited my Wikipedia page to state that we got engaged after winning the gold medal at the 2018 Olympics and it felt like too good an idea to be consigned to the dustbin of inaccurate Wikipedia edits.”

The laughter bubbled up until she couldn’t contain it and had to tip her head back and smile widely. Yousef Acar was the world’s most dramatic dork and she wouldn’t change him for the world.


	30. From the Black Sea to Oslo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girl squad join the balloon squad for movie night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for @thickskinandelasticheart as she's a one woman PR machine for the Turkish drama Sen Anlat Karadeniz and has coerced me into watching my first ever Turkish drama.

“Who wants to go grab a coffee?” Chris asked. “All this shopping has made me caffeine needy.”

Sana looked down at her watch. “I can’t. The boys are having a movie evening and I promised Yousef I would go to this one. Apparently, I’m the only one who can control Elias  _ and _ Even.”

“Oooh movie night?” Vilde squealed excitedly. “We haven’t had a movie night in ages. Can we tag along Sana?”

Looking around at the eager faces of her friends, Sana gave a shrug and said, “Sure. If you want. More voices to veto whatever dumb action flick Elias wants and to rule out Moulin Rouge for the fiftieth time.”

Vilde clapped her hands and shouted, “Yay! It’s been ages since we’ve hung out with the balloon squad.”

It had been a while. It wasn’t that Sana was actively keeping her friends and her family apart like she had in the past. In fact, over the past year, she’d tried to have the girls over to her house regularly. It was nice to see how well they meshed into that part of her life these days. Noora would sit at the table with her mum and talk politics, whilst Chris was a firm favourite with her dad. Jamilla and Eva had bonded over make-up tutorials and it had even helped educate Vilde on Muslim culture and the amount of dumb comments coming out of her mouth had stopped. However, her final exams had been her priority over the past couple of months and then the  _ Russ _ season had taken up most of her free time and spending some quality time with Yousef had taken up the rest. So, casual hanging out with the girls at her house hadn’t happened for a while.

“Let’s get some snacks,” Chris said.

“Call the boys, Sana, and see if they want us to bring back pizza or something?” Eva suggested.

Sana smiled widely as she grabbed her phone out of her bag. She liked nothing more than having those she cared for around her.

 

\----------------

 

“So, what are the choices?” Sana asked, once they had arrived home and put out the pizzas and snacks they’d brought with them.

“Well, we thought we’d try this Turkish drama that a mutual on tumblr was telling me I should watch,” Even said.

“Turkish drama?” Sana said flatly. “You’re kidding me right?”

“Nope,” Adam piped up. 

Turning towards her fiance, Sana said, “Are you seriously allowing this?”

Yousef shrugged. “If Even wants to give it a go then why not?”

“But you’re always complaining about the dramas your mum watches.”

Noora frowned in confusion and asked, “What’s wrong with Turkish dramas?”

“They’re super melodramatic,” Sana said. “Think of the most dramatic thing to happen to you and then multiply that by a hundred and you have the amount of drama in these shows.”

“Sounds like fun,” Eva said. 

Chris and Vilde nodded and Even turned a triumphant grin Sana’s way. “Looks like you’re out voted, Sanasol.”

She narrowed her eyes. She hadn’t played all her cards just yet and, as if on cue, Elias walked into the bookroom. “Elias, we’re watching a Turkish drama?”

Unfortunately, her brother didn’t have her back. “Yeah, have you seen how hot the main actress is? I’ll happily watch hours of her on my screen.”

Mutta held his hand out for a hi-five and Elias slapped it enthusiastically. 

“What’s it about?” Noora asked. “And is it a film or tv series?!

“TV series,” Even said, “How many episodes in season one again, Yousef?”

“21 or 22, I think, which is kind of short for these shows. However, all are around two hours though.”

The girls all gulped a little at that and Sana smiled smugly expecting them to bulk at that kind of watching commitment. 

“Good job it’s summer then,” Chris said. “Plenty of time for us to get together and watch.”

“And it’s about a woman escaping an abusive relationship and finding true love,” Even said.

Vilde’s eyes lit up and Sana mentally groaned. Of course that set up would appeal to Vilde.

“You’re going to regret this,” she warned her friends in a doom laded voice.

“Oh hush! Now who’s being melodramatic?” Even said.

She rolled her eyes, grabbed a slice of pizza and flopped down on the sofa next to Yousef. 

“This one isn’t actually that bad,” he murmured in her ear.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, my sisters and I actually watched this one with mama.”

“I’ll suspend judgment until we’ve made it through the first episode then.”

 

\---------------

 

When the first episode ended on a literal cliffhanger, Sana had to admit that the show was more compelling than she’d expected. Sure, there had been moments of complete overacting and some really cheesy tropes, but it was the kind of drama that sucked you in and she definitely wanted to watch the next episode.

“So, are we going to continue on with it?” Even asked.

“Yes! That was amazing,” Vilde said. 

“Nefes is really hot,” Adam commented. “I’d totally face off with a gun wielding maniac for her.”

“And Tahir could get it,” Chris said, nudging Eva in the side. 

“I knew he was too tall and attractive to be the bad guy during that opening montage,” Eva said.

“What about you, Sana? Does it have your approval?” Even asked.

She wrinked her nose, but grudgingly conceded in light of his hopeful expression. “It was okay and I’ll learn some cute names to call Yousef.”

The rest of them cooed over that except Elias who groaned and mimed throwing up into the wastepaper bin. 

“Yay, so when can we all meet again to watch episode two?” Vilde asked.

“Two hours down, another forty to go,” Sana whispered in Yousef’s ear. 

“You love it, you fraud,” he muttered back before kissing her on top of her head. 

Grinning, Sana snuggled closer into his side. Of course Yousef would see through her front and call her out. And yet, even if the show had been terrible, she would have watched it purely because she got to cuddle up to Yousef. She’d would watch all the Turkish dramas ever made with ease just so she could do that.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on [tumblr](http://rumaan.tumblr.com/) should you wish


End file.
